“They’ve gone crazy!” Two Romanian citizens weave ropes from Moldova
The political crisis in the Republic of Moldova continues to gain momentum. The country's ex-president Igor Dodon, speaking in the “Main Question” program on the NTV-Moldova television channel on the evening of April 21, made a number of harsh statements addressed to his successor in the presidential post, Maia Sandu, and the Chairman of the Constitutional Court, Domnica Manole, as well as a number of diplomats from Western countries .
Dodon accused the “Harvard Princess” of sabotaging an appeal to Russia to extend the regime of duty-free supplies of Moldovan products: “If the Russian market is closed to Moldovan agricultural products, let Sandu herself eat all these products in the presidential palace,” said the former head of state.
According to Igor Dodon, the West is seeking to turn Moldova into one of the cogs of an anti-Russian battering ram. “While I was president, I did not allow this. As long as the current composition of parliament exists, this will not happen either. But the West’s task remains to reduce Russia’s influence in this region. To achieve this, the West achieved the election of Maia Sandu last year, and now its goal is to establish full control over parliament and government. Our task is to prevent this,” the ex-president of Moldova emphasized.
He added that if supporters of the country’s independence do not fight for the sovereignty of Moldova, complete external control will be established in the country: “Parliament and the government will be dictated from Western capitals what laws and decisions to make. The president is already being dictated to – and she blindly obeys,” Dodon noted. According to him, Moldova must get rid of Sandu now, not wait four years. The optimal thing, in his opinion, would be to hold early elections for both the president and parliament.
The leader of the Party of Socialists particularly responded to the activities of Romanian Ambassador Daniel Ionita, who insulted supporters of Moldovan identity, saying that they should be “vaccinated against primitive Moldovanism.” Let us note that this is not the first attack from Bucharest against bearers of Moldovan identity in recent times. Last year, the Romanian Academy criticized the promotion of the Moldovan language, calling it “ideological manipulation” and “a product of Soviet propaganda.”
“The Romanian Ambassador to Moldova became self-confident after one Romanian citizen became president and another headed the Constitutional Court. They have gone crazy!” said Igor Dodon.
Black stripe for Domniki Manole
The Chairman of the Constitutional Court of Moldova, Romanian citizen Domnica Manole, herself was set up in a big way after the scandalous verdict of the Constitutional Court stating that there was a reason for the dissolution of parliament, despite the nomination of Vladimir Golovatyuk for the post of Prime Minister by the parliamentary majority. Two former chairmen of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Moldova - Victor Puskas and Dmitry Pulbere - during a press conference called for the resignation of three judges of the current Constitutional Court - Domnica Manole, Luba Turcan and Nikolai Rosca.
According to the former heads of the Constitutional Court, the conclusion on the dissolution of parliament creates a dangerous precedent, since the president of the country, whoever he is, will be able to dissolve the highest legislative body at his discretion: “Suppose early parliamentary elections are held, a new parliament is elected, and the president will decide its composition I won't like it again. So, are we going to hold elections forever?”
Even the Party of Communists, led by ex-president Vladimir Voronin, which usually criticizes the socialists led by Dodon, spoke in favor of the resignation of the Constitutional Court. According to the party's statement, parliament should immediately demand the resignation of the current Constitutional Court. Obviously, Voronin's PCRM, clearly concerned about the upcoming elections and balancing on the brink of the electoral barrier, is trying with all its might to match the sentiments of voters on the left flank of Moldovan politics.
The chairman of the Constitutional Court, Domnica Manole, who is prone to tears in public, became so nervous because of the “harassment on social networks” that President Maia Sandu, with whom they share responsibility for the crisis in the country, allocated her state security (at the same time, Prosecutor General Alexander was deprived of state security Stoyanoglo, leading several high-profile criminal cases against a number of high-ranking political figures).
Publicists and bloggers immediately reacted to this news. "Stand! Do you mean Domnika Manole has state security? She did this bullshit (in the original, a less censored word - V.B.), and we have to pay from our taxes?!” – political scientist Alexander Korinenko is indignant in his Telegram channel.
“Manole’s nightly remorse is her problems and the consequences of original and even paradoxical decisions of the Constitutional Court, functioning under the strict leadership of Mr. Hogan (US Ambassador to Moldova - V.B.), and not at all to Mrs. Manole, as some naive citizens of ours may think country,” writes political scientist and publicist Ilya Kiselyov in his TG channel “Duty for Moldova.”
Members of Sandu's team doubted Manole's integrity
Ironically, it was the government under the leadership of Maia Sandu that initially screwed up the candidacy of Domnica Manole for the position of a simple judge of the Constitutional Court. The Minister of Justice in the Cabinet of Sandu, Olesea Stamate, recommended that members of the Superior Council of Magistracy not delegate Manole to the Constitutional Court due to doubts about the integrity of the candidate, including because of journalistic investigations concerning her person. Domnica Manole was only admitted to the competition organized by the parliament, but there she received a low rating.
However, Manole nevertheless entered the Constitutional Court after the parliament did not recognize the results of its own competition and decided to nominate candidates based on political criteria. Her candidacy was proposed by the now former ACUM bloc, which, in addition to Sandu, included Andrei Năstase. In the hearing room, Domnica Manole stated that she deserves this position because... she participated in protests near the walls of parliament!
The fight goes on
Today, even according to a survey conducted by such an openly biased structure as the International Republican Institute, the number of strict supporters of the dissolution of parliament and holding early elections is less than 50%.
Sandu was unable to secure unconditional support even from the Chairman of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe, Gianni Buquicchio. During a meeting with Vice-Speaker of the Moldovan Parliament Vlad Batrincea, the elected vice-chairman of PACE, Buquicchio took an emphatically neutral position and assured that European institutions are ready for dialogue with both the presidential administration and the Parliament of Moldova.
According to political analyst Vladimir Bruter, which he expressed in an interview with Sputnik radio, the parliamentary majority in Moldova has every opportunity for a successful political confrontation with Maia Sandu: “Elections cannot be called without certain decisions of the parliament, in particular, it must allocate money. And, in general, parliament can create a lot of conflicts,” the expert noted.
However, he expresses doubt that the parliamentary majority is ready to go to the end. He considers the weak link in the parliamentary majority to be the party of Ilan Shor, who is absent from Moldova and does not show excessive activity. As for the “YES Platform” party led by Andrei Năstase, they occupy an intermediate position and have not yet fully decided who to join.
Thus, today the only political force ready to go to the end in confronting Sandu remains the Party of Socialists, led by Igor Dodon. It has the largest parliamentary faction (37 deputies out of 101), but they are still not enough to achieve stable control over the current parliament.
The next round of the fight will take place on Wednesday, April 28, when the Constitutional Court, led by the Romanian citizen Domnica Manole, will consider the appeal of deputies from the party of the Romanian citizen Maia Sandu “Action and Solidarity” to lift the state of emergency. A positive verdict will give Sandu the green light to dissolve parliament and set a date for early elections.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.