The Liberal Party issued a press release informing about the intention of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe to ask for the Venice Commission’s opinion about the local referendum on the dismissal of Dorin Chirtoaca from the post of mayor general of Chisinau municipality that will be held on November 19. The party makes reference to a recent resolution whereby the Congress expresses its concern about the non-observance of a number of articles of the European Charter of Local Self-Government, IPN reports.

According to the Liberal Party, the Congress notes that the elected mayor of Chisinau was illegally suspended by a judicial authority and the anticorruption prosecutor illegally requested the Municipal Council, on his own initiative, to ask the court to initiate the procedures for suspending the mayor. In the view of the Congress, these are interference and risks of politicizing the legal system in the absence of regulations that would govern the specific procedures for suspending a local elected official.

The Liberals say the resolution also specifies that the provisions of an article of the European Charter of Local Self-Government weren’t observed given that Dorin Chirtoaca was replaced by a “local government official” who was acted as deputy mayor on an interim basis and then as mayor. It is also invoked the violation of another article of the Charter given that a local referendum on the dismissal is held to reduce the mayor’s term even if the Law on the Status of Local Elected Officials and the Constitution ban any imperative mandate.

Given the aforementioned, the Congress commits itself to closely monitor the situation of Dorin Chirtoaca by organizing a fact-finding mission and visits.