Start of New Contest for Prosecutor General Post Delayed Again

The Moldovan Justice Ministry needs at least two more weeks to finalize the Regulation for the Prosecutor General election. The Justice Ministry head assured journalists of this on 20 March. The situation arose after the Supreme Council of Prosecutors cancelled the contest results at the end of February, although Moldova had pledged in the EU accession negotiations agreement to elect the Prosecutor General by the end of this month. “I considered the proposal to set a minimum threshold that potential candidates for Prosecutor General would have to meet. Right now, the regulations do not provide for a minimum. For example, score at least 70 points out of 100 to be considered a winner. Median method, so that when counting the votes, the extremes are excluded and the majority votes cast in favor of the candidate are applied,” Veronica Mihailov-Moraru, Minister of Justice said. The decision to change the contest regulations was taken after the first attempt to elect the Prosecutor General failed. Olesea Vîrlan could not explain why she gave candidate Ion Muntean a suspiciously low grade and resigned as a result of criticism from civil society. Moldova has been without a Prosecutor General since October 2021, when Alexandru Stoianoglo was suspended in connection with a criminal case of corruption and abuse of office in which he is charged. Since then, the chair has been occupied by two interims. Discussions about finding a new Prosecutor General resumed only in September 2023, when the head of state signed a decree on the resignation of Alexandru Stoianoglo.