BY-ELECTION IN HINCESTI RAION SCHEDULED FOR MARCH 15

A parliamentary by-election in single-member constituency #38 (Hincesti) will be held on March 15, 2020, the Moldovan Central Election Commission decided on Friday.

The need to hold the by-election appeared after Democrat Alexandru Botnari, who won in that constituency at the February 24 parliamentary election, decided to resign from parliament last month. The thing is, Botnari won the mayoral election held in Hincesti town in early November and decided to return to that post, which he had held for many years.

The CEC has also approved a calendar plan and an estimate of expenditures for the Hincesti elections – about 4.2 million lei.

The President of Moldova and informal leader of the Party of Socialists, Igor Dodon, stated on the local television on Thursday night that he is sure about the victory of a Socialist candidate in that constituency. He refrained from mentioning the candidate’s name, and only wished success to former partners from the former governing coalition – PAS leader Maia Sandu and DA Platform leader Andrei Nastase, who had stated earlier that they might decide to run for parliament from that constituency. Both of them have lost their high governmental posts of a Premier and a Deputy Premier/Minister of the Interior after the Sandu Cabinet had been dismissed on November 12.

After the February 24, 2019 parliamentary election, by-elections have already been held in four single-member constituencies (Nisporeni, Europe, Chisinau suburbs, Transnistria) after MPs Vlad Plahotniuc (DPM), Maia Sandu (ACUM), Andrei Nastase (ACUM) and independent Viorel Melnic had resigned from parliament for various reasons. Last October 20, by-elections were held in those constituencies simultaneously with ordinary local elections, and the parliamentary by-polls produced new MPs – Ghenadie Verdes (DPM), Galina Sajin (ACUM), Vasile Nastase (ACUM) and Vitaly Yevtodiev (PSRM).