The FINANCIAL — Fresh protests are expected in Chisinau after Moldova’s Supreme Court on June 25 upheld a decision to invalidate the results of a mayoral election in the capital won by a pro-Western candidate.
Moldovans have been protesting daily in Chisinau since a court invalidated the results of the June 3 runoff election, citing violations of the country’s campaign laws by anticorruption activist and pro-EU politician Andrei Nastase as well as his rival, Ion Ceban,
After demonstrators gathered outside the court in the capital to protest against the June 25 ruling, chanting “Revolution,” Nastase called on his supporters to gather in front of the city hall in the morning on June 26.
The initial June 19 court ruling voided the runoff results on the grounds that both candidates had addressed voters on social media on election day, after the legal end of campaigning, according to RFE/RL.
The results of the June 3 runoff election had shown Nastase winning 52.5 percent of the vote — enough to defeat Socialist Party candidate Ceban, who favors closer relations with Russia.
An appeals court upheld the ruling on June 21, saying social-media communications with voters illegally affected the outcome of the race.
The Supreme Court’s ruling is final and the mayoral post will be filled by an acting mayor until the next election in 2019, according to Moldova’s laws.
Nastase said the court decisions were politically motivated. He insisted that neither he nor Ceban campaigned about their political platforms on election day, saying they had merely called on voters to go out and cast their ballots.
Nastase and critics of the court rulings pointed out decisions by other European courts that a simple call to vote on election day does not constitute illegal campaigning.
Both the United States and the European Union have criticized the Supreme Court’s decision.
In a strongly worded statement posted on Facebook on June 25, the U.S. Embassy to Chisinau said that the ruling “has reinforced the public’s perception of political interference in the judiciary of the Republic of Moldova.
The statement notes that “free, fair, and transparent elections are the foundations of any democracy and must comply with international norms.”
It warns that “any alleged irregularities should be addressed in a way that respects the rule of law and democratic principles of government, including the will of the people as expressed through elections.”
The EU envoy to Moldova, Peter Michalko, said in a Facebook post that he was “extremely disappointed by the decision of [the Supreme Court] not to admit the appeal against nonvalidation of elections of mayor of Chisinau.”
Michalko added that “the will of the people expressed in free and fair elections, democratic values, principles of rule of law to which the Republic of Moldova committed in its relations with the EU, have not been respected.”
Nastase, 42, was one of the organizers of large-scale anticorruption protests in 2015 that were fueled by anger over the disappearance of $1 billion from the Moldovan banking system, according to RFE/RL.
His Dignity and Truth Platform and the Party of Action and Solidarity have agreed to work together to select candidates for the next parliamentary elections, due in autumn 2018.
Their goal is to defeat the Democratic Party, which is the main force in the pro-Western governing coalition, and the Socialist Party, which is close to Moscow-friendly President Igor Dodon.
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