Constitutional law expert Nicolae Osmochescu said there is a flagrant contradiction between the status of President and the moral norms that oblige the Head of Strata to suspend party work. “He should not support one party in favor or to the detriment of other parties, but he did this not only once in the recent past, including at the events held in Chisinau last Sunday,” the expert stated in an interview for Radio Free Europe that is quoted by IPN.
“The problem resides in the fact that article 81 of the Constitution – incompatibilities and immunities of the President - does not clearly stipulate that the President cannot form part of a party or cannot be a member of a party or the leader of a party, but this is provided in the ordinary legislation, including the law on the President of the Republic of Moldova,” said Nicolae Osmochescu.
He noted that when a person is elected President, no matter what party he represents, the democratic norms that are respected in almost all the European states provide that the person chosen as President, even if this represents a party, suspends membership in the party for the period of the tenure given that he swears to be the President of everyone, to obey the Constitution and the laws and to defend democracy and the basic human rights, sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of the country.
As to the President’s involvement in the election campaign, the expert said there are direct and indirect impediments that do not allow the President to run in ordinary elections on the ticket of a party and these are rather well classified and clarified in the Constitutional Court’s judgment. “There were a number of interpretations of different articles of the Constitution concerning the election of the President. So, he cannot run under the list of a party. If he wants to run in elections as a private individual in a single-member constituency, he should suspend his tenure,” stated Nicolae Osmochescu.
He added that the President’s participation in the parliamentary elections while holding office, either on the ticket of a party or in a single-member constituency, automatically implies the massive use of administrative resources in favor of this party or in his own favor.
