New Moldovan ruling coalition seeks to amend parliamentary procedure of presidential election
CHISINAU. July 23 (Interfax) - The new ruling coalition in Moldova called the Alliance for European Integration-3 (AEI-3) proposes holding a referendum to change the procedure of electing the president.
Immediately after signing an agreement on setting up the coalition on Thursday, the leaders of the coalition parties also signed an address to the Constitutional Court to propose a referendum to amend the constitution in order to simplify the parliamentary procedure of the presidential election.
In particular, they proposed that the president be elected in three rounds, first by 61 votes, then by 57 votes, and then by a simple majority of 51 votes. This procedure should prevent a political crisis that could arise when electing a president in March 2016. The new ruling coalition controls 52 parliamentary mandates, while the current rules of procedure stipulate that at least 61 out of the 101 votes are necessary to elect a president.
The three parties making up the AEI-3 had previously comprised two ruling coalitions that governed Moldova from 2009 to 2013. When they faced a problem in electing a president in 2010, they arranged a referendum, in which the nation decided whether a president should be elected by popular vote rather than by the parliament. Most of the voters supported the idea, but the referendum was ruled invalid as voter turnout was under 50%.
Moldova switched from electing a president by popular vote to elections at the parliament in 2000. Since then, the country has regularly seen political crises after presidential candidates were unable to secure enough votes in favor of their election. This required early parliamentary elections in 2000, 2009, and 2010. The incumbent president, Nicolae Timofti, was elected in 2012 due to a compromise, as four members of the opposition Party of Socialists agreed to vote for his candidacy.
The Liberal-Democratic Party, the Democratic Party, and the Liberal Party formally set up the ruling coalition in Moldova on Thursday.
The establishment of a new coalition resulted from a political crisis which was prompted by the resignation of the previous government led by Chiril Gaburici on June 12. The AEI-3 declared Moldova's further integration into European Union institutions as its strategic goal.