Constitutional Court to urgently consider if it's OK to be President and parliamentarian

The Constitutional Court (CC) will urgently consider the notification submitted by the president of the Liberal Democrat Party (PLDM), MP Vlad Filat, who asked to clear out whether the Moldovan President has the right to be a parliamentarian (a retributed office) upon the expiration of 30 days after validating the mandate of a parliamentarian and vice versa – if an MP has the right to hold the office of the country's president, after 30 days since been validated as a parliamentarian, Info-Prim Neo reports. Vlad Filat has asked the CC to take into account art. 3 of the Law on the status of a parliamentarian, which establishes that “the mandate of a deputy is incompatible with the position of the president of Moldova, and art. 5 of the same law provides that the deputy being in one of the cases of incompatibility as provided under art. 3 shall resign, within 30 days, from the office incompatible with the mandate of a deputy. The PLDM reminds that annex 2 to the Law on the salary system in the budget-related sector establishes that the President shall get a monthly salary of 9,600 lei, the president of the Parliament – 8,800 lei, and an MP – 7,100 lei. Thus, MP Vlad Filat finds that both the office of Moldova's President and the position of a parliamentarian are incompatible with any other remunerated job. According to the PLDM, the Moldovan Constitution expressly provides that the position of the President can be held by the parliament's speaker only in case of interimship (art. 91.) On the day of notifying the CC -- May 25 -- Vlad Filat finds that Vladimir Voronin has not resigned from the position incompatible with the office of a deputy, what leads to “directly violating the constitutional norms and creates an uncertain situation between the institution of a deputy and the institution of Moldova's President.” The PLDM's moves after outgoing president Vladimir Voronin refused to resign and stop exerting the competences of the head of the state from the position of the parliament speaker. Vladimir Voronin makes reference to art. 80 of the Constitution, what establishes that “the President of the R. of Moldova exerts his/her mandate till the newly elected president gives the oath.”