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PUBLIC ACTIVISTS DEMAND URGENT DISMISSAL OF GAGAUZIA ELECTION COMMISSION
Activists of the national-patriotic union "Devlet" raised over 15 thousand signatures of Gagauzia citizens in support to the demand of dismissing the current members of the Gagauzia central election commission.
Chairman of the initiative group Vasile Neicovcen reminded at the Thursday's news conference at Infotag that the Devlet was founded in December 2018 by 17 public organizations of Gagauzia and represents all the villages and cities of the autonomy.
"One of the main reasons why the commission should resign is that back in November 2017 the Gagauzia Popular Assembly (GPA) voted no confidence in it due to the committed mistakes and failures during the election campaign to the GPA", he said.
According to Neicovcen, back then Gagauzia Bashkan [governor] Irina Vlah refused to sign the GPA decree and started the chain of endless trials.
"In fact, the current composition of the commission is illegal since autumn 2017. Still, today it is conducting the gubernatorial election campaign. The absolute favorite in this run is Irina Vlah, who wants to be elected for the second mandate. For her, the election commission changed the Gagauzia registry of voters, reducing their number to 108 thousand from 132 thousand people", said the Gagauz oppositionist.
According to him, the main criterion for excluding so many people from the list was the fact that they do not live in Gagauzia for over a year.
"However, Vlah herself is not living in Gagauzia for already more than 15 years. She is taken to Chisinau each evening. Another candidate for governor Ivan Burgudji is neither living in the autonomy for over 15 years. Have they also been excluded from lists of voters?" Neicovcen wondered.
He said that the entire election campaign is adjusted to a single candidate - Irina Vlah.
"Even her relative Mihail Vlah renounced the participation in the election run, as he understood the futility of attempts to resist the administrative resource of the Bashkan, who declared herself an independent candidate at elections. She is helped the Gagauzia Executive Committee administration, the Vlah's campaign team is made of advisors to President Igor Dodon, who supports Vlah, including through media resources of the republican level", Neicovcen said.
He calculated that over 2 years and a half of the GPA activity, Irina Vlah ignored its sittings14 times.
"She is afraid of provocative questions of MPs and prefers to communicate with herself. Thus, at one of autonomy's TV channels she bought 300 minutes of airtime and in one of shows she is speaking without debating with other candidates. This is definitely not a discussion, it is propaganda and self-publicity. Gagauzia is flooded with banners with the photo of Irina Vlah", the activist said indignantly.
He stressed the Devlet is not afraid of elections.
"Most of the union members have great experience in conducting various campaigns. However, we want a fair competition and we are against the dominance of Chisinau bosses in the autonomy. They are formal Gagauz people, they do not know the region's interests, the autonomy citizens' needs, they just can report about imaginary achievements", Neicovcen said.
As Infotag has already reported, there are three candidates registered in the region's election commission - Irina Vlah, Ivan Burgudji, Sergiu Cimpoes. Three other candidacy-seekers - Dumitru Manol, Vasile Aladov and Elena Novac keep raising the required 1500 signatures in their support. The deadline for submitting signature lists is May 30 - 30 days before the voting day.
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