“Unbelievable!” This is how Igor Munteanu commented on the Central Electoral Commission’s refusal to register him as a candidate for the October 20 presidential election.

He said it was “disappointing and shameful” that the electoral authority had introduced this system “which allows the government to fill out the endorsement lists in two days, using huge administrative resources, but not in the streets, as the Coalition for Unity and Well-being, among the people”, reports IPN.

“The CEC report claims that certain data were indicated erroneously on our signature lists, or that their identification does not correspond to those in the databases ran by the CEC, or that our supporters were not recorded as residing in those areas, or that they did not have the right to vote, they were not rounded up in the respective electoral constituency or not all the cells were filled in”, complained Igor Munteanu.

According to him, the CEC “tolerates a cloaked system of systemic corruption that distorts people’s choices”. “I think its creators didn’t even test the reactions of the citizens. Many citizens refused to sign on the grounds that we were asking them for personal data, such as their address or identity card number, while admitting that they were only asked by several parties to sign because their data was already on their lists. We thus understand that all the other data were already copied by some electoral competitors and that the current system has from the start favored the parties that control the central or local administration”, said Igor Munteanu.

The CUB leader claims that the use of personal data caused “disorientation and even fear” among the citizens approached during the collection of signatures, the suspicions being related to the fact that certain parties were asking for personal data from them, in the street, at tents, at home, and others already had this data personal, without expecting it to be offered to them by citizens. “This seems to me to be a great injustice and a distortion of the intended purpose. And I’m not even mentioning the fact that the legislation on the protection of personal data has been brazenly violated”, Igor Munteanu adding.

After the CEC verified the 17,357 signatures submitted in Munteanu’s support, 2,530 signatures were declared invalid. “The number of signatures declared invalid led to the reduction of valid signatures presented by the presidential candidate Igor Munteanu below the required minimum of 15,000 supporters”, said CEC member Mircea Catîrău.