“Armenia TV” Proclaims a New President in Moldova

On October 24, the “Zham” news program of Armenia TV prepared a report telling about the Speaker of Moldova’s Parliament declaring himself president.

“In Moldova, the Parliament Speaker has declared himself president of the country instead of Igor Dodon. The Parliament has appealed to the Constitutional Court to demand that the President’s powers be terminated…”  

However, this information may mislead people.

In reality, on the same day (October 24), Yevgeny Sturza was appointed Minister of Defense of Moldova. The point is that Moldova’s defense minister position was unoccupied since December 2016. Former minister Anatoly Shalaru was dismissed on December 27 by the president of Moldova. In September of this year, the Prime Minister of Moldova offered Sturza’s candidacy to Dodon, but the latter refused it, stating that he will not appoint a “random person” for such a responsible position. After offering Sturza’s candidacy for the second time and receiving a rejection, the Government applied to the Constitutional Court in order to specify conditions under which the appointment of defense minister by acting president is justified.

According to the verdict of Moldova’s Constitutional Court, the prime minister or the parliament speaker were permitted to appoint the defense minister and accept his oath. However, this does not mean that the Constitutional Court has suspended Dodon’s powers, as it is presented in the Armenia TV report.

According to the official statement, Adrian Candu, acting president of Moldova who signed the order of minister’s appointment, also attended Sturzan’s inauguration ceremony. But Candu performed those duties only for this particular case, and he did not declare himself president.

The statement “The first decree has already been signed, the new minister of defense has been appointed” creates the impression that Candu is hereinafter leader of the country, and the minister’s appointment was his first decree. Meanwhile, the latter continues to occupy the position of the parliament speaker, and the report of “Armenia TV” is a disinformation full of exaggerations and distortion of facts.