The new Bashkan (governor) of Gagauzia, who was invested on Wednesday, represents a criminal grouping that will try to obstruct the government’s work and to thwart the European course of the Republic of Moldova, said PAS MP Vasile Grădinaru. In the same connection, the chairman of the PPPDA Dinu Plîngău said that in the absence of an authentic justice sector reform, the scenario of the campaign prior to the Bashkan election in Gagauzia will repeat at the November 5 elections, IPN reports.
The chairman of the Party “Dignity and Truth Platform” (PPPDA) Dinu Plîngău is dissatisfied with the absence of pro-European messages in Gagauzia and noted there is a risk that the voters will be bribed and the election camping will be illegally financed also at the local general elections of this autumn.
“We ascertain a sad situation. After two years of government, despite the justice sector reform, we see cases of election rigging. We have the precedent at the elections in Bălți, in Gagauzia and, without the efficient involvement of state institutions, we risk seeing surprise results at the local general elections. We can witness the same practices at the upcoming elections. We travelled to districts and everywhere saw political corruption, buying of mayors. If we refer to Gagauzia, the entire press showed photos, videos with sums of money paid for each vote, for each influencer from the region, but no reaction followed. Earlier, at the time of the Alliance for European Integration, even if there were thieves and they stole the billion, if a poll was conducted in Gagauzia, it showed that 20% of the people there supported the European course. Now, the most recent survey conducted by the IRI shows that only 5% of the population of Gagauzia supports the European course. This is due to the absence of the pro-European parties in the region,” Dinu Plîngău stated in the program “Emphasis on Today” on TVR Moldova channel.
For his part, MP of the ruling party Vasile Gradinaru said the government will prevent the representatives of the former Shor Party from running in elections. A legislative initiative proposed by the PAS MPs bans persons who formed part of the administration of a party that is declared unconstitutional from running in elections for a period of three years of the moment the party is outlawed.
“This is is the candidate of a criminal grouping. Respectively, the Bashkan will fulfill the agenda of a thief who hides from justice. Since the election until validation, this thief didn’t even try to legitimize the Bashkan, assuming he himself all the actions. During many years, the elections in Gagauzia were won by those who are supported by the Kremlin or by representatives of criminal groups. Of the new Bashkan, I expect only that she will destabilize the situation by trying to obstruct our work. The goal of this criminal grouping is to thwart our European course, which cannot be yet foiled. Yes, the law ascertained particular illegalities but, regrettably, the electoral bodies didn’t take those reports into account and validated the election outcome. The Bashkan is the one who was elected. We initiated a bill to prevent those who managed this party from running in the next elections,” said Vasile Grădinaru.
The new Bashkan of Gagauzia Yevgenia Gutsul was invested at a ceremony in Comrat in the evening of July 19. No representative of the government of Moldova attended the event.
