The Chairman of the "SHOR" Party, Ilan Shor, sent a petition to the Council of Europe, the Congress of Local Public Authorities of the Council of Europe, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, as well as to the international observers accredited to the elections of the Bashkan of Gagauzia. He draws the attention of these institutions and officials to the political persecution to which the "SHOR" Party team is being subjected on the eve of the second round of elections in the autonomy.
"As soon as the results were made public, pressure and harassment from the state authorities started against the party candidate and the election staff. All possible special services from Chisinau were unleashed against the party's team in ATU Gagauzia, with a single goal - to annul the vote of the citizens and exclude candidate Evghenia Gutul from the elections. Abusive criminal proceedings were brought, and searches were carried out on the leaders and members of the team. On 13 May, the day before the second round, abusive searches of the candidate's offices and team members were again carried out," the petition states.
Ilan Shor also draws attention to the fact that dozens of threats, letters and enormous pressure are being sent to the Central Electoral Commission of Gagauzia to exclude from the elections the candidate of the party which, according to polls, has the best chances to win the elections. "These actions represent a serious defiance of all legal norms, both local, regarding elections, and a violation of national and international regulations that guarantee the right to free and fair elections," warns the party leader.
He mentions the same scenario applied for the annulment of the elections in Balti municipality in 2021, a case reported to the ECHR. "Despite the fact that the ECHR has already condemned the Republic of Moldova on several occasions for violating the Convention on the issue of free elections - illegally removing a candidate from the race, history is in danger of repeating itself, but with much more serious connotations, with irreparable consequences for the future of our country," the petition states.
Ilan Shor calls on the institutions and officials concerned to take a stand against these anti-democratic slippages of state institutions and to use all their powers to counteract the crimes committed by the government, in order to ensure that, on May 14, 2023, in ATU Gagauzia citizens can freely exercise their right to vote and elect their Bashkan in free conditions and without pressure from the structures of force.
