The candidates for the post of head of state must present a certificate showing the state of their mental and physical heath. This is a condition imposed by the special commission for the supervision of the presidential elections in accordance with the legislation. Neither the commission nor other experts could yet answer the question: what health problems can prevent a person from becoming head of state? And if this is not stipulated in the law, what is the purpose of this medical certificate? Contacted by Info-Prim Neo, the head of the special commission for the supervision of the presidential elections, Liberal-Democrat MP Tudor Deliu said there are specialists who will determine if the person applying for the post of President is fit or not to assume this responsibility. “It is not within the commission’s remit to decide the pathological disorders that are incompatible with the post of head of state. It is the medical institution that will give the verdict. The commission did not set criteria,” said Tudor Deliu, specifying the request to the Ministry of Health to set up a college of medical experts will be made on October 24. Asked what criteria the doctors will use to assess the condition of the candidates, Tudor Deliu said the college will include the best specialists who will decide themselves. The head of the Parliament’s legal commission for appointments and immunities Victor Popa couldn’t say either what the medical certificate is needed for if the law does not specify the health problems hindering a person from running for President. Constitutional law expert Corneliu Gurin has told Info-Prim Neo the candidates should not be subject to medical examination. “If a person has ulcer, can he run or not? The law says a medical certificate is needed, but does not specify what kind of certificate. Maybe the special commission for the supervision of the presidential elections exceeds its authority and there are discriminatory criteria. Why shouldn’t an invalid be able to run for President? It is something vague,” said Corneliu Gurin. According to him, the restrictions should be formulated clearly. For example, the law should say a person who is under psychiatric or neurological supervision cannot hold public posts. “The candidates are usually persons who have held public posts. I don’t think there can be imposed additional restrictions on them. Thus, there is no need to examine them additionally,” said Corneliu Gurin. Political analyst Viorel Cibotaru also considers there should be clear criteria applying to the candidates for the presidency. “They should have discussed the issue in July, when they left for Antalya, or in some other period. The situation is now caused by the political disputes and the fact that the political leaders accuse each other of epilepsy or schizophrenia. The discussions are thus political in character,” he stated. The analyst also said that he does not believe the seat of MP of Mihai Ghimpu or of Vladimir Voronin will be withdrawn after they accused each other of schizophrenia, if it turns out that one of them suffers from this disease. Viorel Cibotaru stressed three are a number of legislative, moral and ethical questions in this respect.