The court’s decision not to validate the seat of mayor-elect Andrei Nastase sets a very dangerous precedent because a red line was crossed and the citizens’ right to elect was violated. From this moment, Moldova enters a very serious crisis, Vladislav Kulminski, executive director of the Institute for Strategic Initiatives, was quoted by IPN as saying in the talk show “Politics of Natalia Morari” on TV8 channel.
Vladislav Kulminski said the government didn’t want the local elections that took place recently in Chisinau. The political aspect prevails in the invalidation of the seat and the court judgement was passed not based on juridical reasons, but because the ruling party was unable to accept the victory of a fully inconvenient candidate that is unacceptable to them from political viewpoint. “We saw that the government could not accept the victory of an inconvenient, opposition candidate that is the government’s enemy ,” he stated.
According to Vlad Kulminski, by this decision the Republic of Moldova can be easily thrown into institutional and political chaos. “I hope the intention was different and I think there is yet place for taking a step backward,” he noted.
He also said that this decision for the Party of Socialists means electoral and political losses in the future. “The Party of Socialists, as they said, went to court to signal violations, while the government and the court of law took one more step and invalidated the seat of Andrei Nastase. I think this clearly shows there is cooperation, as was in the case of the replacement of the electoral system,” stated Vlad Kulminski.
Jurist of the Party of Socialists Fadei Nagachevski said the legal system should be influenced neither by the public opinion, nor by the opinion of politicians. “Justice is not done in public, in the Great National Assembly Square. The judge deliberated for three hours. This means that she calmly analyzed all the arguments,” he stated, adding the court passed not an arbitrary decision and the judgement was based on irrevocable verdicts.
