Party that will block election of head of state may be outlawed

The five political parties that will enter the Parliament after the July 29 elections – the PCRM, PLDM, PL, PDM and AMN – are obliged to discuss and find solutions for electing the head of state, who, for his part, will propose the candidate for Prime Minister after consulting the parliamentary groups, university lecturer, Doctor of Law and one of the authors of the Constitution of Moldova Boris Negru has told Info-Prim Neo. The Parliament cannot be dissolved until April 5, 2010 as the Constitution clearly provides that early elections can be held only once a year and this period starts when the dissolved Parliament was constituted, i.e. on April 5, 2009, Boris Negru said. The three Liberal parties – the PL, PLDM and AMN – have already used this year the right to block the election of the head of state and, as a result, the Parliament was dissolved. “The winners that we expect to form a democratic coalition must discuss with the PCRM and look for solutions so as not to create a major crisis,” the expert in constitutional law said. In the present situation, none of the parliamentary groups can suggest and elect a head of state by itself. The Prime Minister cannot be named as well. Therefore, negotiations and discussions are vital. Boris Negru stressed that the Parliament will have to elect the president of Moldova, the parties having the possibility of fielding a person that does not form part of a political organization, but is popular with the people. Otherwise, the Constitutional Court can outlaw the party that hinders this process. The four democratic parties will have 53 seats in the Parliament, which is a majority. Negru said that if they make a democratic alliance, they can create the Government. The next important step that the parliamentary major should take immediately is to separate the power in the state. The expert underlined that it is not normal when “a power imposes conditions on another power”, saying that the head of state interferes in the activity of the legislative body, naming the judges or rejecting the candidates proposed by the Supreme Council of Magistrates. As to the legality of holding the post of head of state by Vladimir Voronin, Negru said that he stopped being the president of Moldova on April 8, 2009. Under the Constitution, the president’s term in office is exactly four years. It can be extended by organic law only in case of war or catastrophe, Negru said, stressing that the position expressed by the presidential advisers made Voronin liable to legal punishment.