The Democratic Party of Moldova (PDM) denounces the use of violence in the election campaign in Balti municipality, where the car of the son of the party’s candidate in single-member constituency No. 10 Sergey Iordan was set on fire last night. The PDM condemns all the recent acts of aggression, such as setting of vehicles on fire, vandalizing of electoral posters and physical and verbal abuse against candidates or electoral activists, IPN reports.

“Any acts of aggression in the election campaign are fully reprehensible and should be swiftly investigated by the police and those to blame should be held accountable. At the same time, the PDM calls on all the parties and candidates to conduct a correct and civilized election campaign and to refrain from aggressiveness, hate speech and unfounded accusations against the other competitors. It is important for the people to be familiarized with parties’ projects and their proposals for Moldova’s future and this can be done best in a clam and law-abiding atmosphere,” the PDM says in a press release.

The party considers the use of violence in the campaign, including the aggressive language and incitement to hatred and violence, negatively affects the electoral climate and the citizens are the first to lose in this situation.

The Democratic Party noted it is the first party that signed the electoral Code of Conduct proposed by the Central Election Commission. Moreover, last December, before the start of the electoral period, the PDM made a public call to decency and respect for the law in the campaign, but the opposition parties didn’t react to this call. The PDM calls again upon the opposition to subscribe to its call for calm and non-violence and to condemn any incident in the campaign, no matter who is to blame.