It is very important that the local general elections of this November be free and fair and a repeat of the scenario applied in Gagauzia should be prevented, said the director of the Institute for Strategic Initiatives Vlad Kulminski. According to him, the state institutions should make sure that money coming from dubious sources is not used in the current election campaign. In the same connection, WatchDog expert Andrei Curăraru said that three types of pro-Russian parties are engaged in the election campaign prior to the November 5 elections and their goal is to thwart Moldova’s integration into the EU, IPN reports.
Vlad Kulminski noted that the upcoming local general elections are extremely important for the European integration of the Republic of Moldova. In these elections, this desideratum should be reaffirmed. It is important to prevent the rigging of the elections through the illegal financing of parties.
“If these practices are applied in other cities and villages, we cannot speak about free and fair elections. We saw the recently presented case when Ilan Shor bought a pro-European party. Let’s presume that this party would have had a good score in elections, of about 5% of mayors or local councilors. Would the elections have been fair? Surely not. The stake is very big and it is very important that these elections be won by pro-European forces so that the European path is confirmed. If the forces that draw us to the other side score a victory, the situation will be very difficult especially because it goes to large sums of money that comes through different channels, from different countries. It will be practically a bombardment of the Republic of Moldova with dirty money so that these elections are won by pro-Eastern, pro-Russian forces. We see how they acted with regard to Gagauzia. There, they simply went to the people and offered them money, buying the votes. The lady who won the elections didn’t take part in any debate and didn’t ensure presence in the public. It is extremely important that this thing should not be replicated all over the country,” Vlad Kulminski stated in the program “In Depth” on ProTV Chisinau channel.
According to WatchDog expert Andrei Curăraru, three types of parties that are suspected of being pro-Russian or of being financed illegally have become involved in the election campaign.
“There are three types of parties. There are the parties that openly say they are part of this Shor coalition, which is not a legal person - the Revival Party, the Chance Party. There are also the parties that say they are parties of the right, but they could be only spoiler parties whose goal is to ensure someone wins by the first round of voting, and there are the classical parties – the PSRM, the PCRM ,” explained Andrei Curăraru.
In the local general elections of November 5, voters will elect 898 mayors and 11,058 local councilors.
