The Comrat Court of Appeals decided that the election of Ana Harlamenko as president of the People’s Assembly (PA) of Gagauzia was illegal. On July 22, the court ruled in favor of three Communist MPs, canceling all the decisions of July 4, 2008 regarding the election of the PA president, vice presidents and chairpersons of the standing commissions, the president of the Comrat Court of Appeals Elena Lazareva has told Info-Prim Neo. The decision can be appealed to the Supreme Court of Justice within 20 days of the day when the Comrat Court of Appeals gives its vindicated judgment. On the same day, the Comrat court decided to withdraw the mandates of the MPs Nikolai Dudoglo and Serghei Cernev for the reason that they hold posts that are incompatible with the seat of MP. The two hold the position of mayor of Comrat municipality and of head of Vulcanesti district. This way, the Court of Appeals satisfied partially the request of the Ministry of Local Public Administration to withdraw the mandates of nine MPs, a large part of who gave up the incompatible posts they held. Early in July, the Court of Appeals Comrat ruled in favor of the Communist MP Demian Caraseni, quashing all the decisions of June 16, 2008, including the decision to appoint the MP of “Ravnopravie” Movement Serghei Cernev as president of the People’s Assembly of Gagauzia. Both Ana Harlamenko and Serghei Cernev had been elected as presidents of the PA in the absence of the Communist MPs, who challenged the legality of the decision in court. They consider that the post of PA president must be held by the Communist Demian Caraseni, who was elected on June 12 by 18 votes. Three ballots were then declared invalid. The audit commission ruled that Demian Caraseni’s election was illegal because he did not garner the necessary number of votes.