Mariana Odobescu, former head of the education division of the Edineț District Council, considers that the new competition held to fill this position was rigged. In a news conference held at IPN, together with the PSDE leader Tudor Ulyanovski, she said that she led the education division for three years, but, following amendments to the Education Code, her employment contract was terminated in January 2024, on the grounds that "she did not go through the competition procedure," IPN reports.
The ex-candidate noted that after she was dismissed, she was included in the list of division heads who were not selected to hold the post on an interim basis, thus being eliminated from the educational system in which she had worked since 2005 in the middle of the school year, without a clear justification.
Subsequently, Odobescu participated in the competition announced for the position of head of the education division. Immediately after submitting the file, she informed the president of the commission about the possible conflict of interest, as one of the members of the commission had previously been actively involved in her removal from the educational system.
"However, the commission at that time did not consider that there was a conflict of interest, and the contest continued. Thus, I was admitted to the first stage - the assessment of files. At the second stage, the computer test, held on January 20, I obtained the maximum score of 40 points, my opponent - 36", said Mariana Odobescu.
The mathematical result of the contest was already determined and the interview, with a maximum score of 5 points, was the only stage left.
"My opponent supposedly received the maximum score, but she actually accumulated 41 points. If I had obtained the minimum score, my final score would have been 41 points. The regulations provide that in case of a tie, the candidate with richer managerial experience is declared the winner. This is a criterion that I clearly met," said Odobescu.
The third stage was to take place within 10 days, i.e. until January 30. On January 27, however, the secretary of the commission reportedly informed Mariana Odobescu that the third stage was set for February 5 because the president was absent for health reasons. On January 29, she was notified by email that an appeal regarding the testing process had been filed, although her opponent had already signed the testing completion report, confirming that she had no objections to the contest.
"On February 10, I asked the commission’s president for clarification on the status of this appeal. The answer confirmed that no official appeal was filed on January 28, but only an application without a registration number and without a date," said Odobescu.
The challenger’s application turned out to be a petition invoking objections over the fact that Mariana Odobescu obtained 40 out of 40 points in a short time. Also, it was also communicated that the exact date of the third stage depended on the availability of the competition members.
"On February 19, instead of holding the third stage, the commission, without legal basis, met and adopted the decision to requests the District Council to annul the decision to initiate the contest and dissolve the commission, invoking conflicts of interest. On February 21, during an extraordinary meeting, the District Council approved the decision to cancel the contest," said Mariana Odobescu.
According to her, the goal was to prevent the validation of a result that was clearly favorable for her and unsuitable for the local and central government: "This situation is about a dangerous precedent, which shows that anyone can be eliminated from a fair competition, through political and administrative levers."
"It is an extraordinary case when a person who had been working for many years participates in a contest, wins the contest, but this result does not suit the government or the local representatives of the government and every effort is made to make this person, who won on a meritocratic basis, not be appointed to the position," said the leader of the PSDE Tudor Ulyanovski.
Note: IPN Agency offers the right of reply to persons who consider that they were targeted in the news articles produced based on the statements of the organizers of this press conference, including by facilitating the organization of another press conference under similar conditions.
