Constitutional Court has no reason to declare Ghimpu’s election as unlawful

MOLDOVA

Local political scientists and constitutional law experts seem to be unanimous in the opinion that the Moldovan Constitutional Court has no reason for regarding the election of Mihai Ghimpu speaker of parliament as unlawful.

Former Constitutional Court Judge Nicolae Osmochescu stated on the ProTV-Chisinau channel last night that even if the parliamentary majority made some violations, they pertained to the parliamentary Rules of Procedure, not to the Constitution.

He also remarked that the Communists’ rights had not been infringed on, because the Rules of Procedure stipulates that the time given for forming parliamentary factions makes “up to 10 days”, not “10 days”.

The former CC Judge also said the Rules of Procedure does not demand to necessarily hold consultations with all parliamentary factions at electing parliament speaker, therefore the Communist Party’s rights were not violated.

Expert Victor Popa said the Communists had 30 days at their disposal since the July 29 elections, which was quite enough for shaping the MCP faction. So, their demanding extra time was not quite justified. He presumes the Communist MPs should have simply notified officially about the formation of their faction, and should have embarked on regular lawmaking activities.

Association for Participatory Democracy (ADEPT) Executive Director Igor Botan reminded that in May 1998 the Constitutional Court declined an analogous inquiry, explaining that it was not within the Court’s scope of competence. Botan presumes the two hostile camps in parliament are simply trying to resolve a political conflict that may not be a subject of examination by the Constitutional Court.