Svobodna Dnevnik

[Hadash]

El Correo Internacional

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Mordvanian Parliament discusses Constitutional Reform
By: Elena Manstein
Published: Treizen 1581


The Constitutional Committee of the Assembly of Deputies discussing some of the ammends proposed.

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During months, negotiations for a constitutional reform were discussed in the Mordvanian parliament between the several parliamentary groups, but they seem to have stalled. However, the President of the Republican Council (head of government), Bogdan Privsek, is confident that the draft of the constitutional reform could be finished before the end of the present year.

The constitutional reform, demanded by the liberal opposition and many constitutional experts for years, was a vague promise of Bozidar Strnad during his reelection as Chairman of the Council of Defense in 1577. When he was elected two years later, Privsek proposed and announced a constitutional reform expanding the powers of the parliament and clarifying the role and competences of the voyvodeships (local government).

The Coalition of Constitutional Forces, a multi-ethnic centrist coalition aimed to reform the constitution toward a parliamentary republican model, while the Bunesgan People's Party aimed to turn the country toward a federal model. However, both proposals were rejected by the Republican parties such as ruling Mordvanian Republican Party and the Radical Social Republican Party. Unlike the Bunesgan People's Party, the Coalition of Constitutional Forces remain cooperative and it is likely to play an important role if the constitutional reform is aimed to have an even larger consensus that it needs legally, as Privsek initially promised.

The main controversial and divisive issue is the status of the Council of Defense, which has a large political power and huge influence over the Armed Forces and the Republican Guard. A proposal by a Mordvanian Republican Party lawmaker proposed to reduce the competences of the Council of Defense while reinforcing its symbolic role through creating legal obstacles to candidates without enough military and political experience. This proposal was criticized as "undemocratic" by the liberal media, and criticized by the Coalition of Constitutional Forces MPs, who aim to the abolition of the Council of Defense. It was also proposed to simply reforming it, making more like a advisory state body in the Armed Forces. In that case, the Chairman of the Council of Defense -the head of state in the Republic of Mordvania since 1566- would be replaced by a President of the Republic, but lawmakers are divided about if he should be elected by popular vote, by the parliament, and by which house in that case.

Blaz Stuchkek, philosopher and former Chairman of the Chamber of Deputies and diplomat, proposed even that the President could be elected by an electoral college formed by the voyvodeships or local governments, but such proposal found little support. Zvezdana Serebryak, the leader of the United Progressive Socialist Party, declared that her group was willing to consider some of the most ambitious proposals if state-funded education and healthcare were protected in the constitution.

Despite all the differences and lately slow process, Bogdan Privsek hopes that the constitutional reform is passed at least two months before the next legislative elections, to be held in Septem 1582. According to some sources, the Mordvanian Republican Party would be willing to separate the several ammends in different constitutional reforms, if that helps to advance the discussions, something it had rejected at first.