Tiraspol, 28 September. /Novosti Pridnestrovya/. President Yevgeny Shevchuk has sent a request to the Constitutional Court to examine the constitutionality of the constitutional law of the PMR of 18 August 2016 «On amendments to the Constitution of the PMR».
This law was adopted by the Supreme Council in the third reading on 20 July 2016. The document specifies that if the president of the PMR has not signed and promulgated a constitutional law within a period of time established by the Constitution or has not returned it to the Supreme Council for reconsideration, this constitutional law shall be put into effect after being signed and (or) promulgated by the parliament's speaker. The same procedure applies to laws that have overcome the president's veto.
«Thus, under these constitutional amendments the exclusive constitutional power of the President of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic to promulgate laws can be delegated under certain conditions to the Chair of the Supreme Council. This, according to the President, violates several constitutional postulates at once," says the president's request to the Constitutional Court.
So, it is noted that signing and promulgating laws if the prerogative of the president as head of state. Legislative power represented by the Supreme Court headed by the speaker is implemented through the adoption of laws.
As noted by some Russian scholars, signing the law, the president confirms that it has been adopted by the parliament properly and is to be executed upon publication and entry into force, i.e. the president ensures compliance with both the procedures and legal requirements when passing the bill.
«Thus, the President has the right to return laws without signing them if the constitutional procedures have been violated. This right was confirmed by the decision of the Constitutional Court of the PMR," says the request.
Besides, the president underscores, this law «creates a significant imbalance in the system of separation of powers because it concentrates in one body of power the whole legislative process from submitting draft laws to enacting them».
An important argument in favour of the unconstitutionality of the impugned law is the fact that Pridnestrovie is a presidential republic, and under this form of government the exceptional right to sign and promulgate laws passed by the parliament traditionally belongs to the president.
