The petition of the candidate of the Action and Solidarity Party (PAS) for mayor of Orhei municipality, Sergiu Stanciu, to declare “the nullity of the election results, given the violations committed that led to the influence of the voting results”, was rejected on Sunday, November 12, by the Electoral Council of the Orhei electoral district.

According to the decision, the complaint was rejected as “unfounded and inadmissible”.

The candidate of the ruling party had also requested the issuance of a decision ordering the organization, within two weeks, of repeated elections for mayor of Orhei municipality and local council, with the exclusion of the electoral contestant of the political party Forta de Alternativa și de Salvare a Moldovei (FASM) and the candidate for mayor of Orhei municipality, Tatiana Cociu, who won the position in the first round of elections.

Contacted by ZdG, Stanciu said he would “go further, because there are multiple and obvious violations.”

“It is our obligation as citizens to do this. In Orhei there was not a proper electoral process, but a sham. We have an obligation to contest and get justice to the end,” the PAS candidate said.

Sergiu Stanciu announced on Tuesday evening, November 7, that he filed a complaint with the Electoral Council of Orhei Electoral District No. 25 and No. 25/1, asking for the “declaration of nullity of the results” of the November 5 elections in the municipality, given the “multiple violations that influenced the election results.”

“Without fraud and bought votes the result would have been different! We demand that the results of the elections held on 5 November 2023 in Orhei municipality be declared null and void. Given the multiple violations that influenced the election results. We have engaged in an unequal but fair fight. We have documented several cases and filed complaints with the CEC, police, we have enough evidence and arguments for these candidates to be eliminated from the race. We are fighting for Orhei!” he said in a Facebook post.

Tatiana Cociu, candidate of the Alternative and Salvation Force of Moldova Party won the first round of the elections for the Orhei City Hall. She took 57.59% of the vote, according to preliminary data from the Central Electoral Commission after counting all the votes in Orhei.

In second place was PAS candidate Sergiu Stanciu with 17%.

After the exclusion from the electoral race of the “Chance” party candidates by the decision of the Commission for Exceptional Situations, the party’s president, Alexei Lungu, who was running in Orhei, urged his supporters to vote for Tatiana Cociu.