For the Party of Socialists (PSRM) and the Party “Platform Dignity and Truth” (PPPDA), the Central Election Commission’s decision to nullify the Chisinau early mayoral elections wasn’t a surprise. Representatives of the two parties said the early elections should have been rerun, IPN reports.
Socialist MP Bogdan Tirdea said the CEC’s decision to nullify the elections wasn’t unexpected. “The CEC violated the law as the elections should have been rerun if Andrei Nastase was eliminated from the race. The runoffs should have been held again with only one candidate – Ion Ceban. Now that the elections were nullified and both of the candidates were punished, new elections should have been organized,” the MP stated in the program “Key issue” on NTV Moldova channel.
Deputy chairman of the Party “Platform Dignity and Truth” Alexandru Slusari said he didn’t expect the CEC to take a different decision than the nullification one. It’s clear that the CEC was also captured and does not abide by the law. “According to the legal norms, elections should have been held again. We wouldn’t have taken part in this circus anyway,” stated the politician. According to him, the decision to invalidate the elections was taken not by the CEC or by the court of law, but at the head office of the Democratic Party.
According to journalist Igor Volnitski, the CEC’s argument that early mayoral elections cannot he held within a year before the ordinary elections is unserious. Nobody prevented the CEC from setting the next ordinary elections in Chisinau municipality for July or August 2019 and the early elections could have been thus rerun. “I’m concerned about the precedent set in the Republic of Moldova,” he stated, wondering if this precedent could repeat in autumn.
The Central Election Commission (CEC) on June 29 nullified the early mayoral elections held in Chisinau in two rounds, on May 20 and June 3, making reference to irrevocable court decisions. The Commission also interrupted the electoral process for the reason that early mayoral elections cannot he held within a year before the ordinary elections planned for 2019.
