Aspirants for office of head, deputy head of Moldova's National Integrity Authority not to be obliged to pass lie detector test

Chisinau, 17 May /MOLDPRES/ - A decision by the Constitutional Court (CCRM), under which the compulsory practice of passing the lie detector test for holding the office of head and deputy head of the National Integrity Authority (ANI) was declared unconstitutional, will be published in the 18 May issue of Moldova’s Official Journal (Monitorul Oficial).  

CCRM’s ruling was adopted on 10 April, this year, after the former candidate for the ANI leadership, Teodor Carnat, had submitted a notification to this end. Carnat contested the provision which establishes the lie detector test and which obliges candidates for the office of ANI head and deputy head to positively pass this test.   

At that time, the Court found out that the lie detector test did not represent a scientific way accepted at the European level or internationally and a sure procedure of detecting the simulated behaviors. Thus, the Constitutional Court stated that the scientific certainty of the result of the lie detector test has, in general, a low weight, while the right to participate in the management of public affairs and the right to labour has a higher weight; especially as the candidates for the positions of head and deputy head of the National Integrity Authority who do not pass the lie detector test positively cannot be nominated as winners of the contest.    

From this viewpoint, the Court considered that the compulsoriness to positively pass the lie detector test represents a disproportionate measure.

(Reporter A. Zara, editor A. Raileanu)