The outlawing of the Shor Party will not mean the disappearance of this party from the political arena of Moldova. The president of the Party of Change Ștefan Gligor said that if the Constitutional Court declares the Shor Party unconstitutional, the leaders of this party can swiftly create a new political entity. For their part, representatives of the power said there is conclusive evidence based on which the CC can decide to outlaw the Shor Party, IPN reports.
Minister of Justice Sergiu Litvinenco on Tuesday announced that the Ministry of Justice intends to ask the Constitutional Court to declare the Shor Party unconstitutional. According to him, the findings of the U.S. authorities and the published reports show that this party promotes the interests of a foreign state and this is against the sovereignty and independence of Moldova.
‘The Ministry of Justice ascertained there is sufficient evidence showing that the Shor Party can be outlawed. It goes to the recurrent illegal financing of election campaigns, inclusion into the sanctions list of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. There is information that the Shor Party promotes the interests of another state,” PAS MP Vasile Gradinaru stated in the talk show “Freedom” on TV8 channel.
Representatives of the extraparliamentary opposition noted that the outlawing of the party led by Ilan Shor can make the fugitive oligarch create another party that would continue the corruption practices.
“It sounds well. The whole society is tired of the Shor Party owing to the acts of corruption of this, because it defies the law and corrupts voters. But if the Shor Party is banned, nothing prevents the founder of this party from gathering 1,000 signatures, founding one or two local organizations and creating another party. We should not believe that if the Shor Party is declared unconstitutional, this would not try and disguise itself under another name,” stated Ștefan Gligor.
“I think the Shor Party does not have the right to exist. As an argument, I can invoke the assertion of the prosecutor general, who said in Parliament that the Shor Party is a criminal organization. I agree that this party can swiftly turn into another party. But if the PAS adopts a law on lustration, things can turn much more difficult for these persons and they can remain outside the political sphere,” said the representative of the Coalition for Unity and Wellbeing Ion Terguță.
According to constitutional law experts, the illegal financing of a party is not a sufficient argument for outlawing this party.
“As to party funding, there are no such conditions in the Constitution. The Constitution stipulates the promotion of hatred, anti-Semitism, segregation. Party financing is regulated by the Election Code. If a party is financed illegally, it is penalized by being removed from the race. The Shor Party is a champion in this regard,” noted constitutional law expert Teodor Cârnaț.
Fugitive MP Ilan Shor yesterday reacted to the Justice Ministry’s intention to ask for its outlawing. According to Ilan Shor, “PAS aims to take the Shor Party’s seats of MP so as to obtain a constitutional majority in Parliament”.
