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Moldova to hold plebiscite on presidential poll no later than in April

This is the only possible solution to elect the president, reckons interim Moldovan head and leader of Democrats Marian Lupu

CHISINAU, January 15 (Itar-Tass) — The Moldovan authorities intend to hold a referendum on presidential elections to overcome the political crisis. This statement was made on Sunday at a briefing of the leaders of the ruling coalition that includes the Democratic, Liberal and Liberal Democratic parties.

According to the leader of Liberal Democrats and premier Vlad Filat, a plebiscite will be held no later than in April. Starting from Monday, experts in the constitutional law will get down to drafting a bill on changing the mechanism of electing the head of state.

The document will be forwarded to the Constitutional Court on February which will make its findings, and in April it is planned to initiate a referendum on changing the Constitution. Citizens will have a chance to correct drawbacks in the law during the plebiscite, which generated the political crisis,” he added.

This is the only possible solution to elect the president, reckons interim Moldovan head and leader of Democrats Marian Lupu. “Starting from 2000, we made nine attempts to elect the head of state. Two of them were successful – in 2001 and 2005. But it should be noted that these successes were reached under conditions of the one-party rule. We don’t want to permit this in future,” Lupu said.

The ruling coalition already staged such a referendum in Moldova in 2010. Then, population was to approve the need for returning to nation-wide elections of the president. However, it ended in a flop over the low turnout. Responsibility for the failure was slapped on Communists who called on citizens to boycott the plebiscite.

The Moldovan parliament has not been able to elect the head of state for two and half years. The ruling coalition has 59 votes and nominated Lupu for the presidency, but 61 votes are necessary for the president’s election. The opposition Communist Party insists on dissolution of the alliance and drums up support for a non-party candidate.