Valeri Ianioglo is a reserve candidate for bashkan elections – Valeri Climenco

The electoral bloc “Patria-Rodina-Ravnopravie” has fielded Valeri Ianioglo for bashkan of Gagauzia as a reserve candidate, in case communist authorities remove Mihail Formuzal from the electoral race, stated Valeri Climenko, the Bloc’s representative, at a press conference held on Tuesday 31 October. According to Climenco, the party fears that till the day of the elections, President Voronin and his team will try to remove Formuzal from the electoral race, who is registered as candidate for the respective position. Climenco asserts that the authority is working very active in this respect, initiating several criminal proceedings against Formuzal. The cited source says that, in case Ianioglo is registered as electoral candidate, then a few days after the elections, he will withdraw his candidature, calling on the voters to opt for Formuzal. Climenco has qualified the fact that Ianioglo was not registered by the central election commission of Gagauzia as an illegal action, and of political nature. The exclusion of the respective candidate’s participation in the elections was the single purpose. Climenco said that the International Council of Russian Compatriots has recently decided to send an observers mission that would monitor the organization of the electoral campaign and elections in Gagauzia, which will be headed by him. Climenko said he submitted a request in this regard to the Central Electoral Commission. The polls in Gagauzia will be held on December 3 currently. Four candidates run for the post of bashkan till now. Head of OSCE Mission, Ambassador O’Neill recently declared that “the current elections will represent a test not only for Gagauzia, but for the entire Moldova as well”.