Moldovan president to be elected by popular vote

Chisinau, 4 March /MOLDPRES/-The Constitutional Court (CC) today ruled that the Moldovan president shall be elected by popular vote.

CC ruled unconstitutional the law amending the Constitution’s provisions on the president’s election by the vote of 3/5 of the parliament.

“The court reinforced the provisions on the president’s election by direct, secret and freely expressed vote, which were in force before the approval of the unconstitutional amendment. In order to avoid a legislative vacuum, CC ruled the law on the president’s election as unconstitutional and reinforced the provisions of the Electoral Code on the president’s election by popular vote,” the CC ruling reads.

“The court has also ruled unconstitutional the provisions of the parliament’s regulation allowing the essential amendment of the draft law approved by CC. The ruling is final and cannot be appealed. It shall enter into force upon its adoption date and shall be published in Moldova’s Official Journal,” the court’s ruling states.

The court ruled after 18 Liberal-Democrat MPs filed a notification with CC on 12 November 2015, according to which in 1999, magistrates ruled in favour of a draft law providing for the president’s election by the vote of 51 MPs. Also, MPs adopted another amendment in 2000, which is in force until now, and according to which the head of state may be elected only by the vote of at least 61 MPs.

Liberal-Democrat MPs wanted to find out if the above-mentioned amendment should have been approved and if MPs violated the adoption procedure.

The Moldovan head of state has been elected by the secret vote of the parliament’s three-fifths until now.

(Reporter A. Plitoc, Editor M. Jantovan)