Experts have opposing opinions about the invalidation of the mayoral elections in Chisinau municipality. Some of the participants in a special program produced by the public TV channel Moldova 1 said those who broke the law, if they broke it, should have been punished as swiftly as possible, without invalidating the elections. Others said unprecedented violations were witnessed in the recent elections, IPN reports.
Pavel Postica, programs director at Promo-LEX Association, said the harshest penalty for electoral agitation on the election day is a fine of 1,500 lei . “Who was penalized? Those 200,000 citizens who voted on the election day or the electoral contenders?” he wondered. According to Pavel Postica. The court should have reacted promptly when it identified electoral agitation and should have punished the persons who disobeyed the law, not invalidate the elections. “The inhabitants of Chisinau municipality were actually punished by the invalidation of the elections,” stated the programs director of Promo-LEX.
Jurist Pavel Midrigan noted the situation is unclear because there was no such a case in Moldova earlier. The court of law detected violations, but such violations existed in all the elections. In the last new local elections, the foreign factor was involved and this is against the law. “We wonder why these politicians made calls in favor of an election runner? This is indeed a serious violation,” he stated.
Head of the Center for Initiatives and Public Authorities Monitoring Ion Dron said the court that passed the election invalidation judgement made reference to an Appeals Court verdict showing that there was campaigning on the election day, which is not allowed by law. “The key question for many, which will probably be discussed a lot in the public sphere, is if this violation can decisively influence the election outcome. The answers to this question do not seem convincing to me,” he stated.
In the evening of June 19, the Centru branch of the Court of Chisinau decided to not validate the new mayoral elections held in Chisinau, which were won by Andrei Nastase.
