Filat doubts legal briefs can clarify presidential election issue

Prime Minister Vlad Filat thinks that waiting for an amicus brief from the Venice Commission or a legal opinion from the Constitutional Court on the issue of electing the country's president is a wrong approach adopted by the Moldovan Government, Info-Prime Neo reports. Speaking on Radio Moldova on Saturday, May 7, Vlad Filat said: “I don't know what solution the Venice Commission can possibly offer us. It is very likely that we will get a very broad, largely abstract answer, and as such, very evasive. Then the government will pressure the Constitutional Court into finding a solution to only get an answer as evasive as in the first case. This won't give us any final solution” Vlad Filat said that his party, the PLDM, signed, alongside other coalition partners, a solicitation to the Constitutional Court requesting clarification as to how to elect the president only in order to avoid malicious comments. But personally Filat doubts that the Court can give a straight and clear answer to the issue. He also has said that he doesn't imagine how the Constitution can be amendment based on a particular conjuncture related to the election of the president. “Opportunity should not replace legality. If you resort to such a solution once, even if the circumstances are as they are today, this means creating a precedent. No matter how hard this is, we must work to find a solution, we must communicate and secure the votes required to elect the president in an indisputable manner”, said Vlad Filat. According to the prime minister, the next head of state should be a “president for everybody”. “The opportunistic approaches will not resolve the long-term problems”. Concerning when the president should be elected, Vlad Filat said this should happen as soon as possible, but not before the local elections are held. “The electoral period brings complications and reduces the possibility to discuss effectively with the opposition on this issue. Hopefully after the elections we will be able to identify a solution based on reasonable compromise”. The Moldovan Constitutional Court decided to ask the Venice Commission for an amicus brief on the solicitation submitted by the governing Alliance for European Integration in early April, whereby the Alliance asked the Constitutional Court whether it would be legitimate to modify the mechanism of electing the president through organic law.