MPs from Ilan Shor’s team on Thursday requested the Central Election Commission to annul the results of the local elections of November 2023 and rerun the elections. According to them, the request is based on a recent Constitutional Court ruling by which the amendments made by the ruling party PAS to the Electoral Code to restrict the right to run for candidates from the outlawed Shor Party was declared unconstitutional, IPN reports.

According to MPs, given the ruling of the Constitutional Court, it is natural for the results of the local elections to be invalidated as a significant part of the electorate was not represented in the November elections. “As previously promised, we have initiated legal proceedings to annul the results of the November 2023 general local elections. Thus, an application was submitted to the Central Election Commission to annul the documents confirming the election results. It is logical for these to be recognized as invalid given that thousands of people were unable to run due to the PAS’ restrictions,” said MP Marina Tauber.

“By adopting amendments to the Electoral Code, the PAS parliamentary majority grossly violated the Constitution. Thousands of candidates were unable to compete in the general local elections. Thus, the citizens were deprived of the right to an alternative. Under such conditions, we cannot talk about free elections,” said MP Regina Apostolova.

Contacted by IPN for a comment, the head of the CEC’s Communication, Public Relations and Media Department Rodica Sîrbu said that such a request was registered and will be examined within the time frame stimulated by the law and in accordance with the procedures.

At end-March, the Constitutional Court declared unconstitutional the ban on running in elections imposed on particular persons associated with political parties. The impugned provisions prohibited persons who, when the Constitutional Court passed its judgment by which a political party was declared unconstitutional, were suspected, accused or convicted of committing crimes that were mentioned by the Court as an argument when declaring the party unconstitutional, from running in elections. These are persons who were excluded from a previous election as a result of violation of electoral legislation, and this fact was invoked as an argument when declaring the political party unconstitutional, etc. The decision was pronounced following an application submitted by the MPs of the former Shor Party that was declared unconstitutional. Thus, the Court held that the amendments to the Electoral Code, which were given two readings on the same day, contain both procedural and substantial shortcomings.