Moldovan President’s Appointment of PM Declared Unconstitutional

The Constitutional Court ruled on Tuesday that a decree issued by President Maia Sandu on February 11, which nominated Natalia Gavrilita as prime minister for a second time, was unconstitutional.

"The decree of the Moldovan President Maia Sandu on the repeat appointment of a candidate for the prime minister's position is declared unconstitutional," stated the Constitutional Court's president, Domnica Manole.

Sandu issued the decree after parliament, in which the opponents of her pro-European presidency have a majority, rejected Gavrilita's first nomination as prime minister.

The opposition Socialist Party, PSRM, and its allies proposed their own candidate for prime minister, Mariana Durlesteanu, but Sandu rejected the nomination the same day.

Sandu claimed that Durlesteanu had been proposed by a "corrupt majority" formed by 54 MPs out of 101.

"In the case of some of the deputies, there are reasonable suspicions of corruption and external pressure," Sandu said.

She then nominated Gavrilita again to form a new government.

The Socialists challenged her decree in court, accusing Sandu of violating the constitution by repeatedly proposing Gavrilita, a former finance minister and vice-president of the Action and Solidarity Party, PAS, which is Sandu's former party.

The Socialists argued there was already a majority in parliament for the candidacy of Durlesteanu.

The Constitutional Court backed the challenge, but refused to look at the Socialist Party's request to examine whether Sandu also violated the constitution by refusing to nominate Durlesteanu as a candidate for the premiership.

Sandu wants to trigger early parliamentary elections as soon as possible because the Action and Solidarity Party is...