Memorial Day
Memorial Day. No holiday here in Moldova, but still a day of remembrance for Americans. And, of course, its the unofficial beginning of summer. Love it!! This is the last week of school here, and many kids are already spending their non-class time helping in the family gardens. There is not a lot of free time for kids here in the village.
We received this information last week in our Weekly Highlights, and I thought it was interesting information about the political process here. As you may remember, after the election on April 5, there was rioting in Chişinău. From Jeffrey Goveia, our acting Country Director:
I got a request from a Volunteer to give a quick review of the election. While, I’ll admit that this is a confusing process to explain, I’d prefer trying to explain this process to you than trying to explain the Electoral College to anybody. Let me try to sort through what I’ve been told. As you probably know, the President here is elected by Parliament by a minimally-required, super-majority vote of 61 (greater than a 3/5ths majority) members of parliament. The Party of Communists currently holds 60 votes in Parliament…one vote shy of the needed super majority. At this point, all three opposition parties have stated that they will boycott the vote for President. The vote for President is by secret ballot, BUT…the fact that a person votes is NOT a secret. The members of Parliament must leave the chambers, walk into the hallways, get a ballot from a registrar, walk into a voting booth, and then deposit his or her vote into a voting box. As such while any given vote is private, it does not appear possible for any given opposition party member to decide to vote without this being known. This provides a very public mechanism to help ensure party “discipline”.
At this point, the first attempt to elect a President will be held on Wednesday, May 20th, 2009. The Party of Communists has submitted two names for consideration. The first is outgoing Prime Minister Zinaida Greceanii and the second is an academic, Stanislav Gropa. As the opposition parties are boycotting the vote, there are no opposition candidates under consideration.
If no candidate receives sufficient votes in the first round of voting on May 20th, a second round of voting must be held within 15 days. If no President can be elected within three rounds or by June 7th, then the acting President (former President and current Speaker of Parliament, Vladimir Voronin) must dissolve Parliament and announce new elections. I’ve not yet succeeded in tracking down the time given for the new elections to be held. Assuming new elections are called, it appears that Vladimir Voronin will continue to serve as Acting President and Head of Government until a new President can be elected.
An update to this is that there was no President elected this past week, and a second round of voting is scheduled for next week. I think its interesting information, even though we are not involved in the internal electoral process here in any way.
Other than this political news, and my return to village life from my mini-vacation in Cahul, its back to work and focus on the day to day routine. I hope you are all well and enjoying the holiday. I miss you all. xoxo, Jami
We received this information last week in our Weekly Highlights, and I thought it was interesting information about the political process here. As you may remember, after the election on April 5, there was rioting in Chişinău. From Jeffrey Goveia, our acting Country Director:
I got a request from a Volunteer to give a quick review of the election. While, I’ll admit that this is a confusing process to explain, I’d prefer trying to explain this process to you than trying to explain the Electoral College to anybody. Let me try to sort through what I’ve been told. As you probably know, the President here is elected by Parliament by a minimally-required, super-majority vote of 61 (greater than a 3/5ths majority) members of parliament. The Party of Communists currently holds 60 votes in Parliament…one vote shy of the needed super majority. At this point, all three opposition parties have stated that they will boycott the vote for President. The vote for President is by secret ballot, BUT…the fact that a person votes is NOT a secret. The members of Parliament must leave the chambers, walk into the hallways, get a ballot from a registrar, walk into a voting booth, and then deposit his or her vote into a voting box. As such while any given vote is private, it does not appear possible for any given opposition party member to decide to vote without this being known. This provides a very public mechanism to help ensure party “discipline”.
At this point, the first attempt to elect a President will be held on Wednesday, May 20th, 2009. The Party of Communists has submitted two names for consideration. The first is outgoing Prime Minister Zinaida Greceanii and the second is an academic, Stanislav Gropa. As the opposition parties are boycotting the vote, there are no opposition candidates under consideration.
If no candidate receives sufficient votes in the first round of voting on May 20th, a second round of voting must be held within 15 days. If no President can be elected within three rounds or by June 7th, then the acting President (former President and current Speaker of Parliament, Vladimir Voronin) must dissolve Parliament and announce new elections. I’ve not yet succeeded in tracking down the time given for the new elections to be held. Assuming new elections are called, it appears that Vladimir Voronin will continue to serve as Acting President and Head of Government until a new President can be elected.
An update to this is that there was no President elected this past week, and a second round of voting is scheduled for next week. I think its interesting information, even though we are not involved in the internal electoral process here in any way.
Other than this political news, and my return to village life from my mini-vacation in Cahul, its back to work and focus on the day to day routine. I hope you are all well and enjoying the holiday. I miss you all. xoxo, Jami
posted by Jami | 5:56 AM
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