Alexandru Tanase: It’s opportune for President to open discussions on Constitution amendment

It is opportune for the elected President Nicolae Timofti to start discussions on the constitutional reform, considers the chairman of the Constitutional Court Alexandru Tanase, Info-Prim Neo reports. “Currently, there are excellent preconditions for solving problems that could not be solved until the election of the head of state. It think it is now a good opportunity. Nicolae Timofti has special capacity for communication and I believe he can be the person who will open discussions with the parliamentary opposition to see what to do with the constitutional reform,” Alexandru Tanase said in a program on Radio Moldova. According to him, a number of articles of the Constitution should be amended, not only the article describing the procedure for electing the head of state. “There are exceptional, historical preconditions for resolving a series o problems witnessed during several years,” stated Alexandru Tanase. The lawmakers proposed amending the Constitution in 2009, when they could not elect the head of state owing to a political blockage. In September 2010, a referendum was held to modify Article 78 so that the President could be elected by the people. Most of the people voted in favor of the amendments, but the referendum outcome was not invalidated owing to the low turnout. Later, the Alliance for European Integration announced its intention to hold a plebiscite to amend the Constitution so that it allows for electing the President by a simple majority of votes in Parliament. But it later abandoned this idea.