Nicolae Rosca resigned as president of the Constitutional Court (CC) on Thursday, November 9, for “personal reasons,” according to Judge Domnica Manole.

Contacted by ZdG, former CC president Domnica Manole said that Nicolae Rosca announced his fellow judges again today, “at the end of the day”, and that “they were taken by surprise”.

The public announcement of Nicolae Rosca’s resignation was made on the institution’s website on Thursday 9 November. The magistrate served as president for about half a year after Domnica Manole’s term expired.

“Today, 9 November, Judge Nicolae Roșca has resigned as President of the Constitutional Court. The election of a new president is scheduled to take place tomorrow, 10 November,” reads a statement published by the CC.

The announcement of Rosca’s resignation came hours after the Court partially admitted a petition by lawyers of former Prosecutor General Alexandr Stoianoglo and declared as unconstitutional the article of the Law on the Prosecutor’s Office providing for the evaluation of the Prosecutor General’s performance, as it stood before the entry into force of Law No 280 of 6 October 2022.

Judge Nicolae Rosca was elected President of the Constitutional Court of Moldova after Domnica Manole’s term of office expired. The decision was taken at the plenary session of the CC, convened on 25 April.

According to the law, Constitutional Court judges elect its president by secret ballot.

Nicolae Rosca was appointed to the post of CC judge by a 2019 government decision signed by then Prime Minister Maia Sandu. He took office on 16 August 2019, after being sworn in.

Nicolae Rosca has worked at the Faculty of Law of the State University of Moldova, holding consecutively the teaching positions of lecturer, senior lecturer, university lecturer, according to CC. He has also held the position of Head of Department, Head of Private Law Department. He holds a doctorate in law and the scientific and teaching rank of university lecturer. Previously, he was a member of the Union of Lawyers of the Republic of Moldova, President of the Disciplinary College of Judges, member of the Scientific Advisory Council of the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ).

In 2016, he became involved in politics and was a member of the National Permanent Bureau of the “Action and Solidarity Party”. In the parliamentary elections of 24 February 2019, Rosca ran on the national list of the Electoral Bloc ACUM-Platforma DA-PAS, but did not win a seat in Parliament.

According to the law, the CC is composed of 6 judges, appointed for a 6-year term. Two judges are appointed by parliament, two by the government and two by the Superior Council of Magistrates (SCM).

There are currently five judges on the CC: Serghei Țurcan, Domnica Manole, Vladimir Țurcan, Nicolae Roșca and Liuba Șova.