European Action Movement will not be able to participate in elections

The European Action Movement (EAM) will not be able to field candidates for the June 3 local elections, because the Ministry of Justice registered the organisation not sooner than on April 12, and the Central Election Committee refused to accept EAM as an electoral competitor. EAM is going to support in this campaign only its members that will run as independent candidates, who are allowed by the legislation to register in the next two days. Although EAM has not decided whom it would support for the position of Chisinau mayor, the movement said that the future mayor of the capital city should be “a true patriot, with a pro-European stance”. The leader of the movement, Anatol Petrencu, told today a press conference that, on the one hand, the present government declares Moldova a state based on the rule o law, but on the other hand it proves the contrary while acting against the EAM. By severely and brutally delaying the registration of the movement, the government pursued the goal to prohibit the party from running in the upcoming elections. Thus, the rights of almost 10,000 members have been violated, according to Petrencu. Petrenco also mentioned that up till now, besides the registration certificate, the Ministry of Justice failed to confirm EAM’s statute, the movement’s electoral programme, the lists and the members’ applications that had been examined by the Prosecutor’s General Office, which makes this an unprecedented case in the history of the European politics. Moreover, according to Petrencu, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Centre for Combating Economic Crimes and Corruption continue their proceedings against EAM members. Previously, after the Supreme Justice Court rejected the appeal of the Ministry of Justice (MJ), leaving in force the decision of the Chisinau Court of Appeals that had ordered the MJ to register the party, EAM told reporters it hoped it would be able to compete in the June 3 elections.