It’s for the
\nfirst time in 27 years of independence of the Republic of Moldova that the
\nwinner of the race for mayor of capital Chisinau is not allowed to take over
\noffice. On Monday night, the Supreme Court of Justice confirmed the rulings
\nissued previously by another two lower courts and therefore invalidated the
\noutcome of the June 3rd round of elections for the office of mayor
\nof Chisinau, won by the leader of the pro-European platform ‘Dignity and Truth’
\nAndrei Nastase. <\/p>\n
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Both Nastase and
\nhis opponent, the pro-Russia socialist Ion Ceban, were accused of addressing
\nvoters on social media on election day, after the legal end of campaigning.
\nAccording to the Court, this has invalidated the entire ballot and therefore
\nannulled the 125,000 votes won by Nastase. The ruling is final and cannot be
\nappealed. The mayor elect has vehemently accused the Democratic Party, the main
\nplayer in a self-declared pro-European government, and its leader, the
\ncontroversial oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc of benefiting from this ruling.<\/p>\n
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Andrei Nastase: This has never happened anywhere in the
\nworld. Never has a court invalidated elections without anybody asking for that.
\nThis is quite unique! It’s a spit in the face of our people, but also in the
\nface of the entire world, a civilized world, which has promptly reacted to
\nwhat’s been happening here. From now on, the Republic of Moldova will be known
\nin the world not only as the country where somebody has stolen one billion and
\nwhere the Russian mafia has laundered 30 billion, but also as the country where
\nelections have been invalidated by mere theft.<\/p>\n
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Besides the
\npolitical scandal, the Court’s ruling has also created an institutional
\ndeadlock. According to the Electoral Code, in case of invalidation, a new
\nballot should be organized within two weeks, by excluding the candidates that
\nbroke the law. Another article of the same Code, however, reads that elections cannot
\nbe held within less than a year before the normal round, scheduled in this case
\nfor June 2019. <\/p>\n
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The mayoral
\noffice remained vacant after the mayor elected in 2015, the pro-European
\nLiberal Dorin Chirtoaca resigned, as he was indicted in a case which he
\ndescribed as politically commissioned. According to the US Embassy in Chisinau,
\nthe Supreme Court’s ruling has reinforced the public’s perception of political
\ninterference in the judiciary of the Republic of Moldova. <\/p>\n
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In turn, the EU
\nAmbassador to Moldova, Peter Michalko, has stated he was extremely disappointed
\nby the decision of the Supreme Court, saying that the will of the people,
\nexpressed in free and fair elections, has not been respected. <\/p>\n
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In Bucharest,
\nthe Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu has warned that political
\ntension might affect the stability of the Republic of Moldova, the right-wing
\nopposition has voiced support for Nastase, and the media has bluntly dubbed the
\ninvalidation of the mayoral elections in Chisinau as mere ‘garbage’. <\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Republic of Moldova is again going through a severe political crisis<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":70165,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[33676,32112,29007],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-78261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-andrei-nastase","tag-dorin-chirtoaca","tag-republic-of-moldova"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n