Activity of the Parliament on February 1–16, 2003

Parliament spring session

The Parliament of the Republic of Moldova resumed its activity on February 6. As in 2002 the Parliament session was inaugurated by protest rallies. Representatives of 16 out of the 25 registered parties picketed the Parliament calling the ruling party to enforce the PACE resolutions and “fulfil the wish” of the 200,000 citizens who signed for the legislative referendum on changing the electoral system.

Although it was stated that all 16 parties took part in the protest rallies, in reality only 8–9 of them actually showed up, especially the ones with low political rating. Two parties represented the Parliament opposition: Christian-Democratic Peoples’ Party and Social Democratic Alliance.

The Social Democratic Alliance came up with the initiative to picket the Parliament and suspend the sessions of the Permanent Round Table.

Now its very unlikely that the Parliament would agree with the Social Democratic Alliance initiative to declare a referendum on changing the electoral system. It is more likely they would only partially yield so as to show domestic and international public opinion that they resumed the dialogue and cooperate with the opposition.

Law on the modification and completion of the Electoral Code, passed in the first reading

Election Code was amended so as to adjust it to the Constitutional Court Resolution no. 13 of March 14, 2002 and European Charter on Local Autonomy. The amendments reintroduce the provisions of the Electoral Code dealing with mayor election, which were excluded by the law outlawed in early 2002.

Also restored are the provisions referring to the mayor revocation via local referenda or based on the court ruling, whenever the former violates the law.

In addition, the draft law includes new provisions stipulating that a person may not run for the mayoralty for more than two consecutive terms. Another amendment refers to sanctioning the persons whose resignation leads to new elections.

Law on the modification and completion of the Law on Administrative-Territorial Division, passed in the first reading

Under the law, changes are made in the structure of administrative-territorial units by amalgamating several localities in a single one. Also, several localities are to be transferred from one rayon to another.

Most importantly under the new law, administrative-territorial units shall enjoy the status of a legal entity and shall be entitled to patrimony. There are also some general provisions referring to the local public administration functions, i.e. meeting the needs of the residents.

The above said amendments have been developed at the recommendation of Council of Europe experts and are part of a broader program of adjusting Republic of Moldova law to the PACE resolutions.

Noteworthy, all the aforesaid amendments shall be operated to a law, which hasn’t been enforced yet. When the Constitutional Court outlawed the local elections due in 2002, the Parliament decided that the new Law on Administrative-Territorial Division and Law on Local Public Administration should be enforced on the date 2003 general local elections are set.

Law on the ratification of the Convention on the rights and procedures of holding a public office, adopted in the second reading

World Labor Organization passed the Convention in 1978. Its main provisions refer to the right of public officers to associate in trade unions. In addition, the Convention includes guarantees against unwarrantable interference of the public officers in the trade unions’ activity.

The main goal of the Convention is to grant independence to the public officers’ trade unions, so that they could freely defend the interests of their members.

Law on the modification of the civil status acts

In the law the Parliament cancelled its own decision of 2001, namely the Law on the Civil Status Acts, providing that all the aforesaid acts should be drawn in the state language as well as in Russian. Constitutional Court outlawed the provisions, fact, which generated a public scandal. Both the ruling party and ethnic minorities complained that the Court “exceeded its competencies”.

In its ruling Constitutional Court referred to the Law on the Functioning of Languages on the Soil of the Republic of Moldova. The said law enjoyed the status of a constitutional law, and for 7 years could have been modified by the vote of 2/3 of deputies.

On the other hand, experts claim that binding use of Russian breaches Constitutional provisions and even the rights of other minorities residing in Moldova.

February 10–14, 2003

In the time period covered by this commentary the Parliament adopted the following legal acts:

Law on modification and completion of the Electoral Code

One of the main reasons for the escalation of the protest rallies was the fact that a year ago Communist faction amended the Electoral Code and excluded the provisions referring to the direct election of the mayors and their revocation vial local referendum. The Communist Party resorted to such modifications, as it wasn’t sure of the victory in direct elections, rather it preferred mayors to be elected by the local councils. In the partial elections of 2001 Communist candidates won in four out of 11 localities were mayors were reelected.

Constitutional Court outlawed the modifications operated by the Parliament. That is why the Parliament had to restore the provisions previously excluded.

Accordingly, the mayor may be revoked whenever he/she fails to observe the interests of the community, fails to fulfil his/her duties, or violates ethical and moral principles. The mayor may be revoked based on the court ruling whenever he/she:

is incompatible with the position hold;
takes part in the activity of unconstitutional entities;
fails to observe the Constitution and other laws.

The last provision might turn to be very complicated for the Courts, as the Electoral law does not stipulate which violations should be sanctioned, which is left to the discretion of the Prosecutors and Courts. This might lead to different rulings being issued on similar cases.

Also the law provides that no person may run for more than two consecutive mandates.

By adopting the said law the Parliament rejected 4 other drafts on the modification of the Electoral Code submitted by the Social Democratic Alliance. In particular the drafts referred to:

Introducing a mixed electoral system: 50 deputies to be elected in a single national constituency, whereas 51 in uninominal constituencies based on the majority system. Social Democratic Alliance intended to put this issue to a national referendum, however the Parliament did not endorsed the initiative.
Introducing a preferential system, i.e. in case a candidate fails to pass the threshold of representation his/her votes shall not be distributed to the candidates who managed to pass the threshold, but rather to the parties sharing similar doctrines or programs.
The enforcement of the system might be difficult due to the close similarity between the doctrines and programs of various political parties.
Changing the ballot design, by replacing the current ones with detachable ones so as to trace whether additional ballots have been brought to the polling place.
Additional requirement to be met for the President to declare a referendum. Abolishing the requirement that 3/5 of the registered voters should take part in elections.

Law on modification and completion of the Law on the Status of the Deputy in Parliament

The modifications regulate related businesses carried by the MPs. Previously, amendments were operated to the Constitution allowing deputies to conduct remunerated scientific and didactic activity. The law adopted by the Parliament specifies that such activities may not be carried out during working hours as specified in the Parliament Regulation.

Under the current Parliament Regulation, deputies work three days per week in the Commissions, factions, etc. Consequently, they may teach or do research in the two days left.

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