Four candidates of the Our Party (PPPN) in uninominal constituencies weren’t registered as election contestants in the parliamentary elections of February 24. These accuse the government of placing obstacles to them. The four gave a news conference on February 6, IPN reports.

Victor Bogatico, who intended to run in uninominal constituency No. 4 Râșcani, said the government from the start opposed his registration. On December 13, he submitted the documents to the National Integrity Authority. However, in breach of the legislation, the integrity certificate was issued to him with delay, in 34 days. Moreover, the certificate says he cannot hold public posts even if there is no definite court decision and even if he now holds the post of mayor of Râșcani town. He insisted and submitted the documents for registration, but his application was rejected. He filed a challenge to the Central Election Commission (CEC) that is to be examined. Only the candidates of the Democratic Party, the Party of Socialists and the Shor Party were registered in constituency No. 4 Râșcani.

Serghei Ungureanu, who intended to run in constituency No. 25 Chisinau, said his registration was refused after the 77 signatures weren’t considered invalid for the reason that the borders of the constituency were violated. The borders were set by the Government decision that was published in the Official Gazette in November 2017. The initiative group collected the signatures in accordance with the law. It was later established that a polling place was transferred to another constituency. This is a serious violation of the Election Code as this provides the borders of constituencies cannot be modified within one year before the elections. After his complaint to the CEC was rejected, he went to court.

Ion Duca, who wasn’t registered as a candidate in constituency No. 33, noted that 155 signatures collected by his initiative group were rejected. “I filed a complaint to the CEC and this illegally upheld the decision of the electoral council. Our complaint is now pending in court,” stated Ion Duca.

Maxim Chirtoagă wasn’t registered as a candidate in constituency No. 1 Briceni for the reason that he made mistakes in the subscription lists. “It was established that the data from the identity cards of some of the voters didn’t coincide with the data from the database used by the district electoral council. For example, a person has the residence in Briceni, receives the correspondence there and the respective stamp was put his card. The council said this person has the residence at another address,” explained Maxim Chirtoagă.

PPPN vice president Ilian Cașu said the representatives of the party went from home to home to collect signatures, but their constitutional right to be elected is violated by the power. In such conditions, he remembers the year 2014, when the Our Party was removed from the electoral race.