Arina Corșicova, the candidate from Balti affiliated to Ilan Șor, will not participate in the second round of the elections. The decision was upheld by the magistrates of the Balti Court.
Arina Corșicova, the independent candidate for mayor of Balti municipality, who is supported by fugitive oligarch Ilan Șor, will not participate in the second round of elections. Her application for annulment of the decision to remove her from the electoral race against the electoral council of Balti municipal electoral district No. 2 was rejected on Monday 13 November by the Balti court.
“The application filed by Corșicova Arina against the Electoral Council of Balti Municipal Electoral District No. 2 for the annulment of decision No. 239 of 7 November 2023 and the order to restore her electoral rights is rejected,” the court ruling reads.
The decision is final, but can be appealed to the Balti Court of Appeal within 3 days of the delivery of the decision, through the Balti Court of Appeal, central office.
General local elections were held in Moldova on Sunday, 5 November 2023. According to preliminary data published by the Central Electoral Commission (CEC), in the municipality of Balti, Alexandr Petkov, the candidate of “Our Party” for mayor, obtained 22.69% of the votes, while his opponent, Arina Corșicova – 21.52%.
On 7 November, Arina Corșicova, an affiliate of oligarch Ilan Șor, was removed from the Balti mayoral race. The decision was taken by the electoral council of the municipal electoral district.
“(…) On the basis of the complaints filed by the counter-candidate of Corșicova Arina on the violations set out in Article 16 (2) (f), Article 102 (5) (a), Corșicova Arina was removed from the electoral race,” said Svetlana Colesnic, chairwoman of the electoral council of the Balti municipal electoral district.
Arina Corșicova has been removed from the electoral race because she is on the list of “Russian collaborators” in Moldova, sanctioned by the Canadian authorities on 17 October 2023, and because she used undeclared financial and material funds in excess of 1% of the ceiling of funds that can be transferred to the electoral fund or initiative group account.
As a result, in the second round of the general local elections to be held on 19 November, Alexandr Petkov of the “Our Party” and the Socialist Maxim Moroșan (19.73%) will fight for the post of mayor of Balti.