The Constitutional Court (CC) has not yet set the date of the hearing in which it will examine the Government’s application on the exception of unconstitutionality of the provisions of Article 225 para. (3) (e) of the Administrative Code – exercise of judicial control over proportionality, in the case brought by the Chance party against the Commission for Exceptional Situations (CSE) regarding the annulment of the provision of 3 November, which excluded from the electoral race the candidates of the Chance party.

Contacted by ZdG on Wednesday 8 November, 11 days before the second round of the general local elections, which will be held on 19 November, the CC press service told us that it is not known when the High Court will rule on the Executive’s complaint, but that the announcement will be made on the institution’s website.

The Chisinau Court of Appeal admitted on Sunday, 5 November, the request for lifting the exception of unconstitutionality filed by the Commission for Exceptional Situations (CSE) of Moldova.

Thus, the Constitutional Court is to rule on the limits of judicial review. Until then, consideration of the Șansă party’s appeal against the CSE’s decision is postponed.

More specifically, during the court hearing, representatives of the Commission for Exceptional Situations of the Republic of Moldova submitted a petition requesting the lifting of the exception of unconstitutionality of Article 225 para. (3) lit. e) Administrative Code – limits of judicial review.

According to the contested provisions, in cases where individual and normative administrative acts have been issued concerning the national security of the Republic of Moldova, the exercise of the regime of exceptional state, emergency measures taken by public authorities to combat natural disasters, fires, epidemics, epizootics and other similar phenomena, the court may be seized only to exercise control over the following circumstances: e) the proportionality, in accordance with Article 29, of the measures adopted by administrative act.

“Considers that Article 225(3)(e) of the Administrative Code, i.e. the exercise of judicial control over the proportionality, in accordance with Article 29, of measures adopted by administrative act, may raise a problem from the perspective of the independence of law enforcement bodies that have special procedures in the process of criminal prosecution, including the secrecy of the investigation,” the Government argued, according to the court’s conclusion.

The representative of the Chance Party, Elena Organ, objected to the admission of the application on the exception of unconstitutionality of Article 225(3)(e) of the Administrative Code, arguing that this provision has already been subject to constitutional review.

The panel which allowed the application for lifting the exception of unconstitutionality was composed of: Veronica Negru – President, Ecaterina Palanciuc, Ina Dutca.

ZdG contacted the press service of the Constitutional Court to find out when it will examine the application filed by the Government, but we have not received a reply.

The Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ) found on Saturday, November 4, the jurisdiction of the Chisinau Court of Appeal to judge on the merits of the administrative case, on the petition filed by the political party “Chance” against the Commission for Exceptional Situations of Moldova regarding the annulment of the Decision No. 92 of November 3, 2023 and the restoration of electoral rights for all candidates of the political party.

Three hearings were held at the Chisinau Court of Appeal on Saturday evening, 4 November.

The 2 a.m. session was adjourned until Sunday at 11 a.m., as “an additional deadline was granted for the submission of the application to lift the exception of unconstitutionality”.

The Commission for Exceptional Situations (CSE) decided to cancel the registration of all candidates of the Chance party for the general local elections, two days before the elections. The decision was taken in the context of the report presented by the Intelligence and Security Service (SIS) on the attacks on Moldova and the involvement of the Russian Federation in the Moldovan elections.

The announcement was made by Prime Minister Dorin Recean on Friday, 3 November, after a meeting of the CSE.

“In accordance with constitutional obligations and the mandate of the SSC (…) I draw attention to the fact that the decision is taken for national security reasons, in the context of a hybrid war that the Russian Federation is waging in Moldova:

By way of derogation from Article 72 para. 4, Article 102 para. 2 and 5 of the Electoral Code of the Republic of Moldova, the registration of the electoral contestants nominated by the political party Chance in the general local elections of 5 November 2023 is cancelled.

The Central Electoral Commission, through the district electoral councils, will immediately inform all the electoral bureaus of the polling stations about this measure, which by the end of November 4 at the latest (…) will apply the stamp with the word “withdrawn” to all the ballot papers of all the electoral contestants from the party Șansă”.

A few days ago, the president of the Chance party, Alexei Lungu, announced that, if he is removed from the electoral race, Tatiana Cociu, a journalist, will be the alternative for the post of mayor of Orhei. At the same time, Arina Corșicova will replace Victoria Șapa in the elections for mayor of Balti, “if the latter is removed from the race”.

SIS Director Alexandru Musteața announced at a press briefing that the Russian Federation had allocated over 1 billion lei to destabilise Moldova. He also said that the money would be used, including by fugitive former MP Ilan Shor, to finance the Chance party, after the Shor party was declared unconstitutional.

SIS reports that “the criminal group Shor, for the purpose of subversive electoral influence, is supported by the criminal group Plahotniuc”. “They have created a tandem with the objective of seizing power in the state in the context of the upcoming elections,” law enforcement agencies believe.

“The hybrid war waged by the Russian Federation in R. Moldova and some cross-border criminal groups intensified in 2022 and is manifested through the following tactics: attempt to overthrow the constitutional order and seize power through violence, amplification of radical separatist tendencies in the southern part of the Republic of Moldova, especially Gagauzia; interference of the Russian Federation in the electoral process; propagation and alteration of information space; subversive operations carried out by Russian special services, as well as exploitation of organized crime elements by altering the electoral and democratic process”, said Alexandru Musteața.

The head of the SIS noted that Moldova is not the only country subject to “hybrid aggression” by the Russian Federation.

According to the official, SIS data would indicate the preparation and implementation, starting in the second half of 2022, of a subversive scenario of external interference “with the aim of violently overthrowing the democratic government and taking over political control by criminal groups subordinated to other countries”.

“The organizers of this scenario are affiliated with the design and implementation structures of political technologies in the Russian Federation, connected to the administration of the President of the Russian Federation and the Russian security services. The authors of this scenario, on the territory of Moldova, have been determined to be exponents of the organized criminal group led by Ilan Shor, a person included in the list of international sanctions and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment. The organised criminal group operates under the cover of several political projects (…)

At the third stage, which we are witnessing now, we have the compromise of electoral processes in Moldova at state level. In the context of the general local elections of 5 November, the SIS identified activities to influence electoral processes in order to promote the interests of the Russian Federation, through the same organised criminal group led by Ilan Shor (…)”, said the head of the SIS.

Law enforcement officials have documented the provision of particularly large amounts of financial funds allegedly from another country by a political party participating in the general local elections and allegedly controlled by Ilan Shor.

“All these methods are implemented through Ilan Shor who has created an organized criminal group from a network of MPs, civil servants, business representatives, journalists, political and opinion leaders and who illegally finance political parties (…).

Following the declaration of the unconstitutionality of the Shor party, Ilan Shor ensured the takeover of the Ai Noștri party and its renaming into the Șansă party. He ensured the transfer of the infrastructure and exponents of the former structure to the political party Chance”, Musteața also reported.

According to the director of SIS, voter corruption would take place in all localities in the country. Law enforcement officials have opened more than 160 criminal cases, 63 of which have already been sent to court.

In the criminal case on illegal party financing, the authorities have information about the use of some 200 million lei by the “criminal group Shor”, money that would have been used including to finance street protests and destabilization in the country in 2022 and 2023. In total, it would be about 400 million lei, law enforcement officials assume.

“In the last few months alone, more than 90 million lei have been identified and documented for the bribery of voters, electoral contestants and illegal campaign financing. The sums allocated by the Russian Federation for destabilisation amount to more than 1 billion lei,” Musteața stressed.

He also said that the authorities had seized more than 1 million euros and 280 thousand dollars, money transferred to Moldova by the citizen of the Russian Federation and Israel Igal Shved.