The Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ) has declared inadmissible the appeal filed by the candidate for mayor of Balti municipality of former fugitive MP Ilan Shor. The decision was taken on Saturday, 18 November, a day before the second round of the general local elections, in which Arina Corșicova, officially an independent candidate, cannot take part, after her registration for the elections was annulled and the first instance and the Balti Court of Appeal upheld the ruling.

The panel of the Supreme Court of Justice, made up of judges Diana Stănilă, Oxana Parfeni and Mariana Pitic, found that the grounds for annulment raised by Arina Corșicova in her appeal did not fall within the grounds set out in Article 7 of the Constitution. 2451 of the Administrative Code, “because they refer to the appellant’s disagreement with the decision rendered by the Balti Court of Appeal” and do not reveal the contrary interpretation of the law and the erroneous application of the substantive or procedural law norms or that it would be decisively based on the “manifestly unreasonable” assessment of the evidence, thus not constituting grounds for the annulment of the decision.

“The appeal lodged by Arina Corșicova contains factual and legal objections similar to those set out in the application for a writ of summons, which were analysed by the Balti Court of Appeal and duly assessed.

Mere reference to a legal text, without explaining the alleged misinterpretation and/or misapplication of legal provisions by the Balti Court of Appeal, does not amount to an argument. If it were to proceed to examine such an alleged argument, the Supreme Court of Justice’s Trial Panel would be substituting itself for the author of the appeal, which would be tantamount to a control carried out ex officio”, the SCJ noted.

Before the Court, Corșicova also claimed that she had not had the opportunity to acquaint herself with the materials of the administrative file, to prepare her defence position, “to present evidence and arguments, to be effectively heard”.

“Thus, she did not benefit from the right to a fair trial and the right of defence at any stage of the administrative procedure. He considered that this constituted a serious breach of procedure and circumvention of the mandatory rules of the Administrative Code on the conduct of an administrative procedure.

In this regard, the applicant revealed that in this administrative procedure she was treated only in a discriminatory manner, contrary to the law, without respect for good faith and with manifest bias and contempt,” the conclusion of the

The Balti Court of Appeals on Friday, November 17, upheld the decision of the Balti Court of Appeals on the exclusion from the electoral race for mayor of Balti of the candidate supported by former fugitive MP Ilan Shor, Arina Corșicova.

Corșicova replaced Victoria Șapa in the elections for mayor of Balti after the registration of all candidates of Șor-affiliated party Șansă was cancelled.

The application filed by Corșicova against the Electoral Council of Balti Municipal Electoral District No. 2 to annul the decision to remove her from the electoral race was rejected by the Balti Court on Monday 13 November.

General local elections were held in Moldova on Sunday, 5 November 2023. According to data published by the Central Electoral Commission (CEC), in Balti municipality, Alexandr Petkov, the “Our Party” candidate 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.

Thus, in the second round of the general local elections, which will take place on Sunday 19 November, Alexandr Petkov of “Our Party” is fighting for the post of mayor of Balti (22.69%) and the socialist Maxim Moroșan (19.73%).