ACTING PRESIDENT PREFERS NEW

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 CHISINAU 000080

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EUR/UMB

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/03/2020
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM PINR MD
SUBJECT: ACTING PRESIDENT PREFERS NEW
CONSTITUTION TO ELECTIONS, READY TO DEFY ALLIANCE
PARTNERS

Classified by: Ambassador Asif J. Chaudhry for
reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary: In a February 3 meeting, Acting
President Ghimpu told the Ambassador that he hoped
to address Moldova's difficulties in electing a
President through constitutional reform. Ghimpu
said there were serious disagreements within the
governing alliance over holding repeat
parliamentary elections, with Prime Minister Filat
and former presidential candidate Lupu in favor,
while he and Our Moldova (AMN) leader Urechean
would prefer to avoid such balloting. Ghimpu
ruled out the possibility of amending the
Constitution through a parliamentary vote, and
said he favors introducing a new Constitution
through a popular referendum.


2. (C) In a separate meeting later that day,
Constitutional Court Chairman Pulbere acknowledged
the need to change the mechanism for electing a
President, but suggested that a popular referendum
on the topic might likely fail. More importantly,
Pulbere believed any such referendum should be
held after repeat elections, asserting that any
amendments to the Constitution required a six-
month period for review by his Court. End
Summary.

Ghimpu: Avoid Elections, Initiate Referendum
--------------


3. (C) In a February 3 meeting, Acting President
Mihai Ghimpu told Ambassador Chaudhry that he
believed early parliamentary elections would be
"risky" and even "suicidal," arguing that the
Communist Party (PCRM) might come back to power,
particularly if they were seriously supported by
the Russians. Furthermore, Ghimpu said that if he
left the presidency, Moldova's policy on the
important issues of language and identity would
shift (Ghimpu favors calling the state language
Romanian, not Moldovan). "Why fight for power if
we already have power?," Ghimpu asked, adding that
he was looking at all legal means to reform the
Constitution to elect the President, and thus
avoid repeat parliamentary elections.


4. (C) Ghimpu ruled out the possibility of
Parliament amending the Constitution, both because
this required a two-thirds majority of 67 votes,
and because of the requirement of a six-month
period for the Constitutional Court to review the
draft of proposed amendments after the initial
parliamentary vote. Instead, he suggested that a
parallel means of adopting laws, including a
Constitution, existed, through the will of the
people as expressed in a referendum. This
procedure was envisioned in the Electoral Code in
the paragraph on referendums, which provided for
the possibility of approving laws referring to the
character of the state and the adoption of the
Constitution by popular vote. Ghimpu added that
this issue had to be decided before June 16, when
he would be required to dissolve the Parliament.
(Note: the Acting President is required to
dissolve Parliament, but since it cannot be
dissolved twice within one year, he cannot do it
before that date.)


5. (C) Ghimpu also noted that one law would have
to be changed in order to successfully carry out a
referendum. Under the current legislation, a
referendum is only approved if 50 percent plus one
of the entire electoral body votes in favor, while
Ghimpu believed a referendum had a better chance
of passing if the law were changed to require 50
percent plus one of those voting. Ghimpu told the
Ambassador that he had already begun preparations
for changing that article (but did not specify
what he had done). (Note: We understand that the
constitutional commission headed by Ghimpu is
proposing as many as 80 constitutional amendments,
which essentially will amount to a new
Constitution.)

Disagreements Within Alliance
--------------


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6. (C) Ghimpu conceded that there were serious
disagreements within the Alliance on this issue.
Filat and Lupu were ready for elections, while
both he and Urechean were opposed. Ghimpu said he
was disappointed with the failure of the Alliance
leaders to agree -- in fact, he said, the Alliance
"could disappear" unless the issue was resolved --
but said the leaders continued to try to negotiate
a common position. Nevertheless, he suggested
that he would not accede to repeat elections, even
if all his Alliance partners agreed to them.


7. (C) Ghimpu further complained that the
interests of the Alliance leaders were
"diverging." Ghimpu said that Filat had not
returned his phone calls over the past several
days, and he also blamed Filat for "destroying"
Urechean's party (Note: the AMN split recently).
Filat was trying to gain AMN votes, he said, but
in the end, AMN's demise would benefit the PCRM.
Ghimpu also stressed that he remained loyal to the
Alliance commitment to support the presidential
candidacy of Lupu, who had provided the votes to
allow the Alliance to take power.

Constitutional Court Chair Has Different View
--------------


8. (C) In a separate meeting later in the day,
Constitutional Court Chair Dumitru Pulbere opined
that there needed to be a change in the mechanism
for electing a President, or else Moldova could
remain in political limbo. Pulbere, who was an MP
from 1998-2001, believed that "a big mistake" was
made in 2000 when the Constitution was amended to
have Parliament elect the President. Thus,
concluded Pulbere, it would be judicially correct
to "re-amend" that specific article, and return to
a popular vote for president.


9. (C) However, Pulbere said, the problem was how
to go about doing this. A constitutional
amendment in Parliament would require 67 votes,
which neither side would give the other, and hence
was impossible. And even if Parliament prepared a
draft law on amending the Constitution, it was
required to ask the Constitutional Court for its
opinion and wait a mandated period of six months
before any vote.


10. (C) Regarding a referendum, Pulbere said that
it could be used to introduce a new Constitution,
but not to amend an existing one. Pulbere opined
that in the current unstable political situation,
it also was unwise to introduce a new Constitution
hurriedly; in addition, he said, the PCRM would
likely boycott a referendum, making passage
unlikely due to low voter turnout. Furthermore,
since Ghimpu was required to disband Parliament as
of June 16, triggering new elections, there was no
time to change the Constitution.


11. (C) Pulbere therefore concluded that repeat
elections must take place. He suggested that a
referendum on Constitutional change could be held,
but believed this should only be done after repeat
elections, and cautioned that any changes would
still require the six month waiting period.
Pulbere also noted the lack of unity within the
Alliance over the issue, and suggested that
introducing a new Constitution would open a
Pandora's box of controversial questions, such as
the language issue (Pulbere hypothesized that in a
referendum, 70-80 percent of the nation would
prefer to call their language Moldovan, not
Romanian).

Comment
--------------


12. (C) The constitutional questions surrounding
changing the rules to elect a President are
complex and murky even for legal experts. While
Alliance leaders told the Ambassador in mid-
December that they would examine all legal avenues
to amend the Constitution to ensure Lupu's
election -- and avoid a repeat parliamentary vote
-- Ghimpu is clearly out in front of the others in
pushing the issue. However, the GOM has also

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asked the Venice Commission for a legal opinion.
Should (as some here expect) the Commission
recommend against any extra-parliamentary changes,
it is unlikely that Filat and Lupu will support
Ghimpu's endeavors to avoid elections.


13. (C) In addition, given Lupu's more sanguine
attitude toward new elections, Ghimpu's approach
leaves him open to charges that he is self-
servingly seeking to cling to power, and makes it
appear that he is deeply concerned about his
party's showing in a repeat parliamentary vote.
His comments to the Ambassador also indicate that
his relationship with Filat is increasingly tense.

CHAUDHRY