The Communist Party (PCRM) and the party’s candidate for mayor general of Chisinau Igor Dodon filed an application to the Centru district court, whereby they request annulling the results of the second round of the mayoral elections in Chisinau and rerunning the elections. Over 200 complaints from voters, observers’ reports and other confirmative documents were attached to the application, Info-Prim Neo reports, quoting a communiqué from the party. In a news conference earlier, the Communist leader Vladimir Voronin said the elections were rigged. “These elections can be considered a new stage in the degradation of our democratic system. The pathetic phrase “holiday of democracy” in our case can be replaced by “funerals of democracy”. The elections held in Chisinau support this assertion,” said Vladimir Voronin. The Communist leader also said the voters saw that the present administration is unable to guarantee the conduct of democratic elections. “The Central Election Commission, which is controlled by the authorities, represents a dangerous institution that generates provocations and confusion. Only the composure of the PCRM allowed preventing the disorder that was close to embracing the capital city and the entire country. We all witnessed the banditry attack that the government, using the legal system, made on the numeric compotation of the Chisinau Municipal Council,” said Vladimir Voroni. He also accused the government of depriving the voters of the right to secret ballot by removing the curtain from the entrance to polling booths, with the aim of controlling how the budget-funded workers, social sphere workers and representatives of the law enforcement bodies voted. “This exotic modernization of the voting booths was made at the personal request of Mihai Ghimpu, which the Central Election Commission granted immediately. It happened two days before the elections. The CEC ignored the Supreme Court of Justice’s decision and placed the people under the scrutiny of the authorities on the election day. Even the OSCE described these circumstances as serious violation of the right to secret ballot,” said Vladimir Voronin. According to the president of the PCRM, dozens of persons were registered in different apartments before the elections and the number of voters on the electoral rolls in most of the suburbs of Chisinau was much higher than the number of residents of these settlements. “We saw that the students can be blackmailed by extending the exam sessions and violating the civil role by making them vote in a certain way,” said Vladimir Voronin. “Given all these system shortcomings in ensuring the smooth running of the elections and the vote rigging, the Communist Party does not recognize the Alliance’s candidate Dorin Chirtoaca as the legal mayor of Chisinau. The PCRM also does not admit defeat in the elections as this would mean capitulating to the anti-democratic and anti-state forces that now govern Moldova,” said Vladimir Voronin. In the rerun mayoral elections held in Chisinau on June 19, the PCRM’s candidate Igor Dodon won 49.4% of the vote, while Dorin Chirtoaca emerged victorious with 50.6% of the vote.