Igor Munteanu, nominated by the Coalition for Unity and Welfare, failed to join the presidential race. The Central Election Commission refused to register him as a candidate for the office of President after it established that the number of signatures collected from voters was insufficient, IPN reports.

In the process of examining the subscription lists, a number of irregularities were found, including the registration of incorrect or unclear data, signatures of deceased persons, etc. After verifying the data from 611 subscription lists containing 17,357 signatures of supporters, 2,530 signatures were declared invalid. “The number of signatures declared invalid led to a decrease in the number of valid signatures submitted by the candidate for President of the Republic of Moldova Igor Munteanu, below the imperative limit of at least 15,000 supporters,” said CEC member Mircea Catîrău.

Thus, there will be no more than 11 candidates in the presidential race.

So far the CEC registered the following candidates: Alexandr Stoianoglo, nominated by the Party of Socialists; Maia Sandu, proposed by the Party of Acton and Solidarity; Renato Usatyi, fielded by Our Party; Vasile Tarlev, nominated by the Party for the Future of Moldova; Ion Chicu, proposed by the Party of Consolidation and Development of Moldova; Irina Vlah, nominated by a group of citizens; Andrei Năstase, proposed by a group of citizens; Octavian Țîcu, nominated by the Electoral Bloc “Together” and Victoria Furtună, nominated by a group of citizens.

On Tuesday, the CEC is also examining the subscription lists brought by Natalia Morari and Tudor Ulianovschi, both nominated by groups of citizens.