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Different opinions about situation when election running head of state does not suspend activity

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2009-02-06/10:49/ Chisinau (IPN) "If the head of state runs in elections, he will promote the ideology of the party that he represents and this runs counter to the Election Code, which says that no ideology can be instituted as official ideology of the state and that democracy is based on political pluralism," said Igor Munteanu, the executive director of the Institute for Development and Social Initiative "Viitorul".

According to Munteanu, if the head of state continues to hold the position during the election campaign, this will be a violation of the Election Code, which sa ys that all the candidates that occupy administrative posts must be suspended so as they could be admitted by the Central Election Commission (CEC) to the election campaign. "Otherwise, the situation would harm the fundamental human rights because the Constitution says that nobody has supremacy over the law," the analyst said.

Igor Munteanu said that the MPs or ombudsmen could notify the Constitutional Court about this, while the CEC could ask that the constitutionality of non-constitutionality of holding an administrative post by an election runner is examined as an emergency issue. "If none of these happens, everyone will suffer because certain parries will feel discriminated," the analyst said.

Munteanu considers that any head of state that in such incompatibility situation should realize that this runs counter to the state of law and should find a temporary solution so that the elections could be free and fair.

On th e other hand, the MP on behalf of the PCRM Vladimir Turcan, the chairman of the parliamentary commission for appointments and immunities, said that the chief of state has the experience needed to show that he can differentiate between a situation and another. He told Info-Prim Neo he is sure that the head of state's actions will be in accordance with the electoral ethics and will comply with the Election Code.

"When the head of state has meetings with the voters, he will speak about the situation in the country. Nothing is out of the ordinary here. I don't think that serious problems can appear. Everything depends on the state of affairs," Turcan said. He also said that the president of Moldova has the right to express his opinion. "He must tell the people that the running political party will continue to make good changes if it is allowed to," he stated.

Vladimir Turcan considers that the President should not quit his post because there will be created an unpleasant situation. "The head of state should fulfill his duties until the end and cannot allow someone else to do hold the post offered to him when invested," Vladimir Turcan said.

The presidential press service said they have nothing to comment yet and when the decision to announce this thing is made, the information will be broadcast.