Central Election Commission announces Chisinau councillors list

The Chisinau Municipal Council (CMC) consisting of 51 councillors will represent 10 political parties that balloted more than 2% in the June 3 elections. The majority in the Council will be the communist councillors. These are: Veaceslav Iordan, Svetlana Popa, Tatiana Cunetchi, Reghina Apostolova, Eugen Baleca, Grigorii Gacikevici, Valerii Pavlov, Vasile Ouatu, Margareta Popov-Ivanus, Ludmila Muraviova, Alexandru Roman, Victor Odobescu, Ghenadie Onceanu, Igor Burda, Mihail Arusoi and Gheorghe Marin. At the same time, if Iordan wins the mayoral race, the seat in the council will be passed to Serghei Novic. The Communist Party had 25 seats in the previous CMC. The next political party by number of mandates is the Liberal Party with 11 seats: Mihai Ghimpu, Dorin Chirtoaca, Vadim Cojocaru, Gheorghe Brega, Ion Cebanu, Raisa Padurean, Elena Lupascu, Ana Vasilachi, Corina Fusu, Tatiana Gutium and Doina Sulac. In case Chirtoaca is elected as Mayor, Vasile Toderascu will substitute him in the Council. The previous CMC had no LP representatives. The “Moldova Nostra” Alliance has 7 city councillors compared with 14 the party had previously. The councillors are: Serafim Urecheanu, Mihai Furtuna, Pavel Caba, Oleg Cernei, Ana Iurascu, Victor Savin and Mihail Ceban. The Christian Democrat People’s Party and the Democrat Party will each hold 4 seats in the council, compared with 8 seats for the PCDP and 1 seat for the DP previously. The Christian-Democrat councillors are: Alexandru Corduneanu, Mihail Adauge, Eugenia Starcea and Ion Gabura. The councillors of the Democrat Party are: Vladimir Filat, Alexandru Tanase, Vlad Cotet and Galina Talai. Other 5 political parties share the remaining 9 seats. The Social Democracy Party – 3 seats: Vasile Parasca, Adelaida Boico and Emil Gutu. The Social-Democrat Party – 2: Eduard Musuc and Loretta Handrabura. There are also two councillors on behalf of the Humanist Party: Ion Mereuta and Oleg Oniscenco. The “Patria-Rodina-Ravnopravie” Bloc will be represented by Valeri Climenko and the National Liberal Party by Mihai Severovan. 15 incoming councillors held seats in the previous council, which was made up of 6 political parties and an independent candidate. Serafim Urecheanu and Vladimir Filat said they could keep their membership in the Parliament. In addition, the electoral legislation stipulates that 4 municipal councillors will be elected as deputy mayors, which will also change the make-up of the CMC. The Chisinau Council is the only local council in Moldova that has 51 seats. It is followed by the municipal councils of Balti and the district councils of Hancesti, Orhei, Soroca and Ungheni, consisting of 35 councillors each. Other councils have 27 to 33 councillors.