If it is ascertained that the Bashkan election in Gagauz had been rigged, the election must be rerun, said acting prosecutor general Ion Munteanu. According to him, the lists of persons who took part in that election are being checked and the correctness of the election campaign funding is being determined in parallel, IPN reports.
After the second round of voting in Gagauzia, the National Anticorruption Center asked the Central Election Commission of the Autonomous Territorial Unit to provide the lists of persons who cast their ballots in the election. The acting head of the Prosecutor General’s Office said there are suspicions that persons who are on the list of voters weren’t in the country on election day.
“The last action taken consists in the verification of the list of persons who went to the polls. A sufficiently large number of persons need to be checked so as to see if they were in the country on election day. Someone else could have been voted instead of them. But in parallel, we investigate aspects of illegal financing and of attraction of illegal electoral funds. If it is ascertained that the election had been rigged, at least the election should be rerun,” Ion Munteanu stated in the program “Emphasis on Today” on TVR Moldova channel.
He also said that the justice sector reform launched by the current government takes place too slowly. The functionality of the Prosecutor General’s Office is affected by the absence of a permanent chief.
“The examination of high-profile cases at the judicial stage stagnates. There is still no real, implemented mechanism for fighting grand corruption, either we speak about the capacity of the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office or other mechanisms. For the Prosecutor’s Office to be efficient, stability is needed at the institution. But the post of prosecutor general has been held on an interim basis for two years already. Approximately 50% of the executive posts at the Prosecutor’s Office are held on an interim basis. This is not beneficial to the work of prosecutors. The prosecutors must always enjoy stability in their activities. The Prosecutor’s Office works, but is not sufficiently efficient, as society or the prosecutor general wants. I hope that in the immediate period, we will have a functional Superior Council of Prosecutors so that the administrative posts and the vacant posts of prosecutor are filled,” said Ion Munteanu.
By a decree signed by President Maia Sandu last October 2022, Ion Munteanu was named acting prosecutor general. According to experts, the appointment of a prosecutor general on an interim basis is no longer possible as long as there is no end result in the case featuring suspended prosecutor general Alexandr Stoianoglo.
