The ban on running in elections for some of the members of the former Shor Party was introduced for the purpose of ensuring the proper conduct of the general local elections, said the deputy chairwoman of the ruling Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) Doina Gherman. According to her, the authorities will not allow a group of people who committed acts of electoral corruption and accepted illegal financing to compromise the November 5 elections. Pro-Kremlin forces from the Republic of Moldova have endeavored to thwart the country’s European course and the authorities block these attempts by all legal ways, IPN reports.

The MP noted that the authorities struggle against the oligarchic and pro-Kremlin groupings in Moldova, which want to take the country back under the Russian sphere of influence by impeding the European course.

“Many well-intentioned people who believe in democracy don’t realize how big the danger of an attack on the statehood, integrity and national security is, the context in which we are, namely that the alliance of forces from the Kremlin, fugitive oligarchs and criminal groupings has strived to thwart the European course of the Republic of Moldova. This is clear to everyone, including at international level. It is a very aggressive attempt to stop the Republic of Moldova from following its European course. The authorities cannot stand and watch how someone shows disrespect for this country and causes chaos from its north to its south,” Doina Gherman stated in the program “Résumé” on RliveTV channel.

The PAS deputy chairman also said that the authorities had to individualize the restrictions for members of the former Shor Party and to ban the persons put on a list compiled by state institutions from standing for election. The decision was taken in a bid to implement the Constitutional Court’s decision by which Shor Party was outlawed.

“In the justice sector, things do not necessarily go swiftly and well. That’s why we have to intervene legally, with bills that would ensure the proper conduct of the general local elections of November 5, which are a test for democracy and we, as authorities, are responsible for ensuring that these elections are fair and free. The Constitutional Court declared the Shor Party unconstitutional. The leaders, members of this party who had been directly involved in money laundering, illegal financing, voter corruption must not be able to continue such practices. It is inacceptable to have such electoral anarchy in a European state in 2023. We will not permit,” stated Doina Gherman.

Recently, Parliament adopted the criteria based on which the list of persons who cannot run in the general local elections was compiled. It goes to persons who were classed as suspects or were accused or found guilty of committing offenses that were used as an argument by the Constitutional Court when the party was declared unconstitutional, and persons who were excluded from the electoral race earlier, following the deliberate violation of the principle of legal financing, or were put on international sanctions lists.