Marina Tauber to Seek Cancellation of Local Elections Results

Independent MP Marina Tauber, who previously represented the banned Șor party in the Parliament, announced her intention to legally annul the general local elections results held in Moldova in November 2023. Tauber herself signed the request, as well as other representatives of the former Șor party and the Șansă party did. The Central Election Commission is asked to invalidate the general local elections of 5 November 2023 and to set a date for new general local elections no later than November 2024. The petition refers to the fact that the Constitutional Court recently declared unconstitutional the provisions of the Election Code that imposed restrictions on activists and previously elected representatives of the banned Șor party to stand for elections. “In circumstances where hundreds and even thousands of candidates were unable to participate in the elections and voters were deprived of the right to elect an alternative, we cannot speak of free and fair elections. (...) Only new elections with the participation of all candidates will correct the serious mistake made by the authorities,” Tauber said. If the CEC refuses to annul the election results, Tauber is preparing a lawsuit and appeals to international courts. In late March, the Constitutional Court upheld the appeal of MPs from the banned Șor party and ruled that the amendments to the Electoral Code, which prohibit members of unconstitutional parties from running in elections, were not in line with the Basic Law. The complaint to the CC was filed by MPs from the banned party “Șor”: Marina Tauber, Reghina Apostolova, Denis Ulanov, Vadim Fotescu and Petru Jardan. Having examined their appeal, the court considered it to be justified. The lawyers of the authors of the complaint noted that the amendments to the Election Code were adopted in a short period of time, due to which there was no real discussion of the draft law and the opinion of the opposition was not taken into account. Representatives of the authorities rejected the accusation, noting that the adopted amendments were in line with the previous decision of the Constitutional Court. Parliament Speaker Igor Grosu later said that the authorities would find new ways to block the political activity of fugitive oligarch Ilan Șor in Moldova and people associated with him.