The Republic of Moldova is bracing up for snap election

Citizens in the Republic of Moldova, a Romanian-speaking ex-Soviet country, have been called to cast their ballot in the snap election of July 11th

Ştefan Stoica, 29.04.2021, 13:50

Maia Sandu, president of the Republic
of Moldova on Wednesday dissolved Parliament in Chisinau and called for early
election on July 11th. This became possible after the country’s Constitutional
Court had ruled the state of emergency as unconstitutional, paving the way for
the dissolution of Parliament, which couldn’t have been dissolved otherwise.

Maia Sandu: Through this decision we have opened the way for citizens to be able to
elect a new Parliament to serve their interest and the country’s. The power is
now in the hands of the people. I trust our citizens and their readiness to
choose the right way towards a developed democratic state in which people are
living in peace and prosperity.

The Parliamentary election
is the way out of the political deadlock currently affecting the small
Romanian-speaking state in the east. With an ambitious reform agenda including
several goals as curbing corruption, streamlining institutions and embracing
European values, Maia Sandu from the very beginning of her mandate has attracted
opposition from the Parliament majority made up of the Socialists of the former
pro-Russia president Igor Dodon. In a bid to block the early election, Dodon
and his allies made an abortive attempt at changing the members of the
Constitutional Court. The European institutions and the US Department of State
have voiced concern over the latest moves by the pro-Russia majority in
Moldova, describing them as a blatant attack on the country’s democratic norms
and its Constitutional order.

Prior to Sandu’s statement, Dodon had
again lashed out at the Constitutional Court, which he described as a political
instrument in the hands of some politicians trying to undermine the state
authority.

Dodon has also described his
political opponents as puppets of the West. His political supporter, Moscow,
has denounced what it calls a direct intrusion of the US and EU in the domestic
affairs of the Republic of Moldova urging both entities to refrain from such
moves.

The anti-Constitutional coup in
Chisinau has also been firmly condemned by Bucharest. According to Romania’s
Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu, the latest moves involving Parliament in
Chisinau are proof of the importance that must be attached to the continuous
observation of the rule of law in the Republic of Moldova as well as the
importance of avoiding any decisions that might cast a question mark over the
rule of law in this country.

In turn, Romania’s Constitutional
Court (CCR) has expressed disagreement towards the concerted attacks against
the Constitutional Court in the Republic of Moldova and the constitutional
crisis in this country. ‘To incite to disregarding the Constitutional Court’s
rulings is tantamount to incite to breaking the law, the rule of law, to
cancelling the very essence of democracy’, the CCR says.