Socialist Ion Ceban, who competed for mayoralty against mayor-elect Andrei Nastase in the runoffs, said the Court of Chisinau’s decision not to validate the election outcome and the seat of mayor is incorrect and has profound political undertones. In a news conference, Ceban said the Party of Socialists (PSRM) didn’t ask the court to exclude someone from the campaign or to invalidate the election outcome, IPN reports.
Ion Ceban said Andrei Nastase’s assertion that the PSRM requested to annul the elections is not true. The PSRM notified the court of the committed violations, namely that Nastase benefitted from external assistance in the election campaign. Also, cases of campaigning were identified on the election day and on the day before.
The leader of the Socialist group on the Chisinau Municipal Council said the PSRM’s jurists are waiting for the argued judgment of the court and will challenge the court decision when they receive this.
“As regards the annulment of the elections, because this is what the decision means even without the argued part, it results that I didn’t have the right to take part in this campaign either even if I committed no violation of the legislation and no challenge was filed against me,” noted Ion Ceban.
According to him, Andrei Nastase, who victimizes himself, is one of the main beneficiaries of this situation and this wouldn’t have done a great job at the City Hall. In the current situation, the PSRM suffers the most and they will thus insist on the annulment of this judgment.
When asked by journalists, Ion Ceban said the legal system in Moldova is not independent and is controlled by the ruling party PDM and its leader Vlad Plahotniuc.
In the evening of June 19, close to 10pm, the Centru branch of the Court of Chisinau municipality invalidated the results of the new mayoral elections held recently in Chisinau. Present at the court, mayor-elect Andrei Nastase, who heads the Party “Platform Dignity and Truth” (PPPDA), told the press this is a perfidious game hatched by the current government, noting the decision of the ordinary court will be disputed.
In the June 3 runoffs, the candidate for mayor of the Party “Platform Dignity and Truth” Andrei Nastase gained 52.57% of the vote, while his opponent Ion Ceban, of the Party of Socialists – 47.43%.
