I cannot claim to perfectly understand what is going there but there are present two Presidents, two Governments, one Parliament and one Supreme Court involved.
Some back story in this mess is that was inconclusive election in February and until recently the elected Deputies (MPs) had not been able to form a coalition. This changed last week when the pro Muscovite Socialist Party surprised everyone by forming a coalition with it's enemy; the pro EU Democratic Party (Acum) with the Democratic leader Pavel Filip becoming Prime Minister. Then the Court got involved; for some breach of Presidential authority they ruled that the sitting (pro Muscovite) President Dodon could no longer be President and appointed Filip as President which replacing him as Prime Minister with Maria Sandu (a former Executive of the World Bank). President(?) Filip thereupon promptly called a new election.
So the claims and counter claims of illegalities here are as you can imagine plentiful. First off it is claimed that coalition was formed after the legal deadline. I am not sure how long that is in Moldova but six months in Ukraine (as recently used as a device to delay an election here since the law here stipulates that the Rada must be given six months to form a new coalition before hassling everyone with a new election). This allegation is denied by both the Moldovan Parties involved.
Then there are questions regarding the Court's jurisdiction - can it appoint a Prime Minister? The question of Mr Dodon's failures in his Presidential responsibilities would also seem peculiar though I am not sure if there is a Parliamentary impeachment process in Moldova nor remotely conversant with their law.
So there you have it and you can imagine both sides are accusing each other of the most serious breaches of constitutional legality and the fight might come on the streets.
Some back story in this mess is that was inconclusive election in February and until recently the elected Deputies (MPs) had not been able to form a coalition. This changed last week when the pro Muscovite Socialist Party surprised everyone by forming a coalition with it's enemy; the pro EU Democratic Party (Acum) with the Democratic leader Pavel Filip becoming Prime Minister. Then the Court got involved; for some breach of Presidential authority they ruled that the sitting (pro Muscovite) President Dodon could no longer be President and appointed Filip as President which replacing him as Prime Minister with Maria Sandu (a former Executive of the World Bank). President(?) Filip thereupon promptly called a new election.
So the claims and counter claims of illegalities here are as you can imagine plentiful. First off it is claimed that coalition was formed after the legal deadline. I am not sure how long that is in Moldova but six months in Ukraine (as recently used as a device to delay an election here since the law here stipulates that the Rada must be given six months to form a new coalition before hassling everyone with a new election). This allegation is denied by both the Moldovan Parties involved.
Then there are questions regarding the Court's jurisdiction - can it appoint a Prime Minister? The question of Mr Dodon's failures in his Presidential responsibilities would also seem peculiar though I am not sure if there is a Parliamentary impeachment process in Moldova nor remotely conversant with their law.
So there you have it and you can imagine both sides are accusing each other of the most serious breaches of constitutional legality and the fight might come on the streets.
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