Referendum on dismissal of Chisinau general mayor fails

Chisinau, 19 November /MOLDPRES/ - The referendum on the dismissal of the Moldovan capital’s general mayor has failed. The polling stations were closed at 21:00 and over 110,000 voters cast their suffrages till this time.   

According to data by the Chisinau district electoral council, 17.53 per cent of the Chisinau residents participated in the plebiscite on the dismissal of the Moldovan capital’s general mayor, which means that the referendum will not be validated. At the same time, the data on the exact number of voters is to be summed up and unveiled subsequently.

The present information shows that more women (55.7 per cent) than men (44.3 per cent) came to vote. Most electors were in the Botanica district of Chisinau, followed by the districts of Rascani, Centru, Buiucani and Ciocana.

More than 160,000 votes are needed for Dorin Chirtoaca to be dismissed from office by referendum. At the time, for the referendum to be validated, not less than one third of those more than 647,000 voters recorded in lists should participate in it.

Dorin Chirtoaca has been leading the Moldovan capital since 2007; at present, Chirtoaca exercises his third mandate. Presently, the Chisinau mayor is prosecuted in two files for influence peddling and abuse of office and is under judicial control. Thus, even if the local plebiscite has failed, the mayor remains suspended from office till rulings are issued in the two files.  

Almost nine million lei was spent for the organization of the referendum.

(Reporter A. Ciobanu, editor A. Raileanu)