Last elected president of Gagauz legislature convenes sitting on Thursday

The last elected president of the People's Assembly of the Gagauz Autonomy, Serghei Cernev, has convened a plenary sitting of the local legislature for Thursday, June 19, Info-Prim Neo has learnt from Valentina Grozdev, the chief of the protocol section of the Gagauz parliament. She says the Communist MPs were also invited. The draft documents to be considered have been sent to all those 35 deputies. She could not specify whether the Communists would honor the invitation, but has said those ones demanded on Monday, June 16, to convene the sitting on Friday, June 20. The independent deputy Serghei Cernev was elected on June 16, without the Communists' votes, who already sued the decision. The Communist MPs consider the position should be given to the Communist Demian Caraseni, elected on June 12 with the vote of 18 legislators. Three ballots were declared invalid. The counting committee declared as unlawful the election of Demian Caraseni, since the president of the People's Assembly is elected with the votes of half deputies plus one. Another law-maker, Ana Harlamenko, got 15 votes. The Gagauz bashkan, Mikhail Formuzal, told a news conference on June 17 that there was no dual power in Gagauzia, and the Assembly's president was Serghei Cernev. Earlier, 17 legislators in the People Assembly issued a joint statement accusing the PCRM (Communists Party from Moldova) of attempting to usurp the power in the autonomy. According to them, on June 12, one of the fundamental electoral principles - the secrecy of the vote – was violated by marking ballots. The Communists deny the accusations. According to them, Demian Caraseni was legally elected by 18 deputies. They also declared that electing the president of the local legislature was delayed because Governor Mikhail Formuzal interfered with the process. The Gagauz People's Assembly is made up of 21 independents, 10 Communists and by two members from the Democratic Party and the Ravnopravie social-political movement.