Artur Croitor, who wants to run as an independent in the presidential elections, said the national electoral legislation places obstacles in the way of people with modern views and keeps in power those who brought the country in a state of economic decline.
In a news conference at IPN, Artur Croitor stated that those who run independently or are fielded by civil society do not enjoy the same conditions as the candidates provided by political parties. “What equal rights can we speak about when the candidates proposed by parties receive financing and airtime on TV channels, while the candidates of civil society and the independent ones are deprived of these?” he asked.
Artur Croitor said he submitted an application to have his initiative group for collecting signatures registered to the Central Election Commission on August 31. He got an answer on September 2. Given the organizational issues that were to be agreed, his team lost another nine days. Thus, they have 20 days to collect the signatures and present them to the CEC by September 29.
“It means that one person must collect 2,000 signatures daily or a team of 400 persons is needed, but this is not allowed by law. Also, the food and travel expenses for the 100 persons who go through the country to collect signatures amount to about 1 million lei. Another about 1 million lei is needed for TV advertising. In such a situation, a candidate of civil society with a monthly salary of 10,000 lei must gather the money needed for this stage during 20 years,” stated Artur Croitor.
He called on those who intend to run independently to combine efforts and contribute to destroying the existing information blockade.
