After several hours of deliberations on June 19, the Centru branch of the Court of Chisinau municipality didn’t validate the results of the new mayoral elections in Chisinau. Present at the court, mayor-elect Andrei Nastase, who heads the Party “Platform Dignity and Truth” (PPPDA), told the press that this is a perfidious game orchestrated by the current government, noting the decision of the ordinary court will be challenged, IPN reports.
The hearing started t 4:30pm and close to 10pm judge Rodica Berdilo passed the judgement. “The court decided: the legality of the new local mayoral election held in Chisinau on May 20, 2018 and June 3, 2018 is not confirmed. The given judgement will be transmitted to the Central Election Commission and the Chisinau District Electoral Council within 24 hours of the passing. The court’s judgement can be appealed within one day of the day it is passed,” stated the judge.
Andrei Nastase said the judge uttered some nonsense. “We have to cope with a mafia. The people’s vote for them does not matter. The vote of the citizens of Chisinau and its suburban localities does not matter for them,” he stated. According to him, this decision was ordered by the leader of the Democratic Party Vlad Plahotniuc and the judge should be jailed.
The leader of the PPPDA believes that the passing of the judgement was intentionally delayed until night so as to plan eventual provocations. He invited the people to stay calm and to remain at home today, but called on them to be united. He noted the decision will be challenged and the further steps will be decided based on the judgement of the appeals court.
PPPDA deputy chairman Alexandru Slusari said he received an SMS message before the judgement was passed, saying the elections will not be validated and police officers were mobilized at the court of law. He didn’t specify who sent the message.
Andrei Nastase’s lawyer Dumitru Pavel said that in such circumstances the post of mayor of Chisinau will be held on an interim basis until a definitive decision is taken as to the validation or until the ordinary mayoral elections.
The Centru branch of the Court of Chisinau on June 15 put off the validation of the seat of the mayor-elect of Chisinau. In a new hearing on June 18, the secretary of the Chisinau District Electoral Council Vitalie Miron asked to replace the judge for the reason that this pronounced on the essence of the case at the initial stage, which is not right. The application was accepted and the case was redistributed to judge Rodica Berdilo, who invalidated the election outcome.
Andrei Nastase polled 52.57% of the vote in the mayoral runoffs.
