Comrat Court of Appeal examines the legality of the elections of the Gagauz autonomy's Bashkan
A hearing on the legality of the elections of the Gagauz autonomy's Bashkan on 30 April and 14 May has started at the Comrat Court of Appeal. The judges are due to decide whether to validate the election results.
Moldova 1 correspondent Ecaterina Terzi reports from Comrat that before the hearing, which began at 10:00, the president of the appeal panel Andrei Mironov said he had received a petition from one of the candidates, Sergei Cernev. He was not present at the meeting.
The Comrat Court of Appeal has also been notified by the police of the criminal case filed on the basis of a number of articles relating to the Gagauz autonomy elections.
The judges took a break. Evghenia Guțul, the candidate with the most votes according to the local electoral authority, is in the courtroom.
On 30 April and 14 May (second round), elections for the Bashkan were held in the Gagauz autonomy. Eight candidates took part in the first round. In the second round of voting, the battle for the position of Bashkan of the autonomy was between Evghenia Guțul, supported by the "Shor" party, and Grigori Uzun, the candidate supported by the socialists.
The legality of the elections in the Gagauz autonomy is being examined at a time when the electoral council and the Comrat People's Assembly have recognised Evghenia Guțul's victory in the elections and the law enforcement agencies are prosecuting the case of voter corruption.
The Central Electoral Commission found that all eight candidates had spent money exceeding the declared amounts.
