The exclusion of Șor Party’s candidate Marina Tauber from the Bălți snap mayoral elections has both legal and political undertones. “We must speak about the political aspects as society is concerned about what’s going on,” political analyst Cornel Ciurea stated in a debate hosted by IPN. “There were cases when candidates were removed from the competition, but never 20 minutes before the runoff,” stated Cornel Ciurea.
“The idea of presence of the political factor belongs to those who challenge the exclusion of Marina Tauber from the competition. The others prefer not to discuss the political factor. This is absolutely surprising as the whole short history of the Republic of Moldova proves that the state institutions and courts of law almost always took decisions under the influence of the political factor,” explained Cornel Ciurea. According to him, the PAS’ interest in defeating the candidate of Șor Party in Bălți is indisputable. The PAS, Maia Sandu and other factors of influence, using particular prerogatives, could influence the CEC’s decision and the decisions of courts.
The political analyst mentioned the precedent of 2018, when Andrei Năstase’s tenure as mayor of Chisinau wasn’t validated. “The whole civil society invoked evident political interference. No one challenged the influence of the political factor then,” said Cornel Ciurea. As regards the snap elections in Bălți, the expert said some of the representatives of civil society exclude the influence of the political factor here. He noted the civil society members who entered CEC allowed to be bought by the current government in different ways.
Cornel Ciurea anticipated that a wave of dissatisfaction will start in Bălți and will embrace the whole country owing to the suspicions about the unjust removal of Marina Tauber from the competition
The debate “Elections in Bălti: between justice and politics, between lawfulness and surprises” is the 217th debate of the series “Developing Political Culture thorough Public Debates”. The project is implemented by IPN with support from the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
