The tenure of the mayor of Bălți Nicolai Grigorișin, who was elected with slightly over 7,000 votes, is representative as the new mayor was elected by the citizens, said Minister of Justice Sergiu Litivinenco, referring to the results of the runoff vote in Bălți. According to him, the exclusion from the race of Șor Party’s candidate for financial deviations will be a lesson for all the electoral contenders so that they obey the law and declare all the costs incurred in the campaign, IPN reports.
Even if only 10,209 persons voted in the runoff vote in Bălți on December 19, which is 9.98% of the total number of voters, the minister said the tenure of the new mayor is representative.
“It is much more representative than in the case the mayor was named by someone else, not elected by the citizens. Correct, transparent financing of parties is a decisive element of free and fair elections. We cannot have democratic elections when a contender finances the campaign legally and obeys all the caps, while another contender ignores the law. The law that penalizes competitors for costs that exceed the cap set by the central electoral body was only implemented,” Sergiu Litvinenco stated in the talk show “In Depth” on ProTV Chisinau channel.
At the same time, the minister said the Kroll Report mentions the names of a number of leaders of Șor Party, but it is the court of law that will decide whether these are to blame or not to blame. They are now examining the international legislation to see if there are preconditions for outlawing Șor Party.
“The judiciary should decide if those who were allegedly involved in all kinds of gross violations and massive thefts from the state budget are to blame. The outlawing of the party is being attentively considered. We are analyzing the international standards and will inform the public when we complete the analysis. It is not easy to outlaw a party. Yes, this party committed many financial deviations, but we must see if this can serve as a reason for declaring the party unconstitutional,” said Sergiu Litvinenco.
According to the Central Election Commission, independent candidate Nicolai Grigorișin won the snap mayoral runoff in the municipality of Bălți with 84.77% of the ballot (7,148 votes). His challenger Nicolae Chirilciuc, of Moldova’s Patriots Party, garnered 15.23% of the vote (1,248 votes). The runoff involved the candidate who finished second and the candidate who finished fifth in the first round of voting given that electoral contender Marina Tauber was excluded from the competition, while the third- and fourth-ranked candidates withdrew.
