Chisinau, June 28 (Infotag). The Moldovan Federation of Student and Youth Organizations, uniting approximately 3 thousand members, has stated it utterly dislikes that the mayoral election in Chisinau is going to be held at such an unusual time of the year – July 10.

Federation Chairman Angel Agachi stated at a news conference in Infotag today, such a date was set not at all accidentally, because an overwhelming majority of university students will be far from Chisinau on summer vacations, and will thus be isolated from the voting procedure.

Agachi explained that in accordance with the contract each student signs with university administration before every academic year, he or she must vacate their rooms in hostels by July 1. This means that students, constituting 15% electorate in the capital city, will not go to the polls.

Currently, nobody can tell how many provincial students live at hotels. There is only more or less precise statistics about how many students have a temporary residence permit in Chisinau – 43 thousand, but, again, nobody knows how many of them rent rooms in the city privately, or live at their relatives’ or friends’, and so forth.

“So, we are demanding to extend the permission for students’ staying at hostels. We realize this will require extra expenditures, but Moldova is a state building its life on democratic principles and striving for European values, isn’t it? If so, it is necessary to create equal voting possibilities for all. If not, we will have to resort to legal methods to defend our interests and rights”, stated the Federation leader.

The Federation has already submitted applications for picketing the Central Electoral Commission on June 30 and July 6, and is presently composing letters to the Council of Europe, the European Union, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Officially, the Federation does not back any of the 10 candidates for Chisinau Mayor.