Moldova

Only one candidate registered for Moldovan presidential election

October 20, 2009

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Democratic Party leader Marian Lupu is the only candidate registered for the 23 October presidential election in Moldova, the Moldovan news agency Infotag reported on 19 October, quoting the chairman of the parliamentary commission in charge of organizing the presidential poll, Ion Plesca.

The deadline for the registration of candidates expired on 17 October at midnight, the agency added.

Marian Lupu was nominated for the post by the ruling 53-strong Alliance for European Integration, which, however, is short of eight votes to elect the president on its own. The opposition 48-strong Communist Party refused to nominate its own candidate for the presidential post and said that it would not participate in the poll.

At the same time, the Communist parliamentary faction argues that, in line with the Moldovan constitution, "the presidential election should take place only if there are more than one candidate".

"The constitution says that 'if no presidential candidate wins the necessary majority of votes...' and then according to the text. This means that at least two candidates should run for the post," Infotag quoted Communist MP Vladimir Turcan as saying.

For his part, the honorary chairman of the Democratic Party, Dumitru Diacov, said that the alliance "does not deem it necessary to nominate a second candidate".

"We don't play democracy. The Communists usually nominated two candidates, one of whom always got zero votes. Our candidate is Marian Lupu. Neither the constitution nor other law stipulates how many candidates there should be. We nominated our candidate and we don't deem it necessary to nominate a second one," Infotag quoted Diacov as saying.

In another report released at 0800 gmt on 19 October, Infotag quoted the chairman of the parliamentary commission in charge of organizing the presidential election, Ion Plesca, as saying that "the constitution does not clearly say whether the presidential election can take place with just o ne candidate".

"At the same time, there is a recommendation by the Constitutional Court dating back to 2000 and saying that at least two candidates should participate in a presidential election," Plesca added. Plesca believes that parliament should set a new date for the presidential election and appeal to the Constitutional Court for explanation.

In a third report released at 1000 gmt on 19 October, Infotag quoted Liberal Democratic Party MP Vitalie Nagacevschi, as saying that "the Constitutional Court ruling is only a recommendation rather than a mandatory decision".

Moldova has been a parliamentary republic since 2000, with the president being elected by parliament. The deadline to elect the president, in two attempts, is 11 November. If MPs fail to elect the president by that date, then acting President Mihai Ghimpu has the right to disband parliament and call a new parliamentary election, which could, however, take place only in 2010.

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