Tanase: President’s Desire Alone for Early Elections Is not Enough

Alexandru Tanase commented on Igor Dodon’s statement that there is a possibility of holding early parliamentary elections in Moldova. The president’s desire alone is not enough to prompt an early election," Tanase said in an interview for deschide.md. “The first detail that we must take into account is the fact that, according to Article 85 (4) of the Constitution, the parliament cannot be dissolved during a state of emergency. Under current conditions, a state of emergency will last at least May 15, 2020, and this period may be extended. In this regard, there are clear constitutional provisions, as well as extensive judicial practice of the Constitutional Court (CCM), which makes voluntary dissolution of parliament impossible. Article 85 of the Constitution provides only for two situations when parliament can be dissolved - "the impossibility of forming a government or blocking the procedure for adopting laws for 3 months." None of these two conditions is fulfilled today, so any discussion of early parliamentary elections is purely hypothetical," Tanase said. According to him, "the possibility of holding early elections alongside the presidential election must be subject to constitutional conditions that are harsh and cannot be avoided." "Article 85 para. (4) of the Constitution stipulates that the Parliament cannot be dissolved during the last 6 months of the term of office of the President of the Republic of Moldova, as well as during a state of emergency, siege or war. Article 80 paragraph (1) of the Constitution provides that the term of office of the President of the Republic of Moldova lasts 4 years and is carried out from the date of taking the oath. President Igor Dodon took the oath of office on December 23, 2016, which means that the period of 6 months before the expiration of the four-year term of office, after which the dissolution of parliament becomes impossible, is June 23, 2020. One of the two circumstances allowing the dissolution of the parliament, namely, the blocking of the adoption of laws for 3 months under the current conditions, is not accidental, since it will exceed the 6-month period during which the dissolution of the parliament is prohibited. Theoretically, only the impossibility of forming a government remains a circumstance that can justify the dissolution of parliament. If we were faced with the impossibility to form a government, the president would have two more months to sign a decree on the dissolution of the parliament," Tanase said. He outlined a situation in which parliament could be dissolved: "In order to launch the dissolution mechanism, the parliament must be unable to form a government within 45 days after the first request. Given that the deadline for dissolution of the parliament is June 23, 2020, to meet this deadline, the government will have to resign by May 8, 2020, so that it expired by June 23. The 45-day period available to parliament for the formation of a new government. Therefore, only if by May 8, 2020 the government resigns, and within 45 days a new government is not elected, it will theoretically be possible to dissolve the parliament. If this does not happen under these conditions, the dissolution of the Legislative Assembly will be possible only after the presidential election," Tanase said. Recall that earlier Igor Dodon said he did not rule out the early parliamentary elections this year. In his opinion, the probability is 20-30%.