Moldovan Liberal Party registered as participant in referendum for dismissal of Chisinau mayor

Chisinau, 23 October /MOLDPRES/- The Liberal Party (PL) was registered as a participant in the local referendum for the dismissal of Chisinau mayor Dorin Chirtoaca, even if he had previously announced he would boycott the action. PL leader Mihai Ghimpu made the statement today.

Ghimpu noted that during the election campaign the party representatives will urge voters in Chisinau not to vote on 19 November and not to legitimize this referendum.

“PL decided to apply for registration in order to defend the honor and dignity of Chisinau mayor Dorin Chirtoaca. It is a pity that political parties were allowed to register in the electoral race, but not the capital’s mayor, against whom the action takes place. Even so, we believe we will maintain the victories we have won in the previous elections”, he said.

Chisinau District Election Council member Vadim Branzaniuc said that besides PL “so far the council has registered as a participant in the referendum only the Party of Socialists, as other applications did not come”.

The referendum to dismiss the Chisinau mayor will be held on 19 November 2017. Over 160,000 votes are needed to remove Chirtoaca from office through a referendum. Also, for the referendum to be validated, at least one third of the over 647,000 voters on the lists should attend the poll.

The mayor is the head of the capital since 2007, and is now in the third term. He was arrested in late May by anticorruption prosecutors and officers, suspected of influence peddling in the paid parking case. At the same time, the anticorruption prosecutors announced in late August that the mayor is under investigation in a new criminal case, being suspected of overcoming his duties in a file on changing execution of housing titles in the capital. Chirtoaca rejects the accusations and pleads not guilty.

(Reporter A. Ciobanu, editor L. Alcază)