Chisinau mayor elections declared valid
https://www.ipn.md/en/chisinau-mayor-elections-declared-valid-7965_991086.html
{[Update:] paras 5 and 6 added}
The Centru District Court rejected the challenge submitted by the Communist Party and declared the outcome of the Chisinau mayoral run-off to be valid, Info-Prim Neo reports.
As a result, Dorin Chirtoaca was confirmed to be re-elected as Mayor of Chisinau.
Veaceslav Colesnic, the Communist Party's representative to the Central Election Commission, said the party would appeal.
The Communist Party contested the legality of the mayoral run-off in Chisinau, claiming it was tainted by fraud and violation of the secrecy of the vote.
PCRM lawyer Sergiu Sirbu explained that the party contested the outcome because of hundreds of complaints from voters who said their right to a secret vote had been violated. “The polling stations didn't comply with the decision of the Supreme Court of Justice to restore the frontal curtain of the polling booth. Because of this, people were afraid to vote”.
Another violation noticed by the PCRM, according to Sirbu, was the free transportation offered to youths studying in Romania to come and vote in Chisinau, an action regarded as vote buying. Also, the PCRM claimed that in some suburban communities the number of residents registered at certain addresses was larger than the actual one.
