A European country has banned an opposition party that was surging in the polls. Why aren't you hearing more about it?

 

The decision could lead to a political crisis in Moldova, where the current government hopes to one day join the EU

©  RT

On June 19, a political party was banned in Moldova for the first time since the country’s independence in 1991. Following a trial that provoked a broad public outcry, the Constitutional Court of Moldova ordered the dissolution of the Sor Party. Moldova's pro-Western establishment believes the party to be ‘pro-Russian.’ Its founder, Ilan Shor, has fled to Israel, the land of his birth, to escape imprisonment.

Over the previous months, the party's supporters held rallies demanding lower utility bills and an increase in social guarantees. Moreover, the party opposed any talk of Moldova unifying with Romania and any attempt to forcibly seize the unrecognized republic of Transnistria, where Russian peacekeepers have been stationed since 1992.

The ban has caused mass protests and a split in the political establishment. Along with complaints about the usurpation of power and a deteriorating economy – which many say has been caused by severing ties with Russia – Moldova’s Western-backed President Maia Sandu is now accused of violating democracy and the country’s constitutional principles.

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Not a single word about democracy

Last fall, at the initiative of Justice Minister Sergiu Litvinenco, the Moldovan government appealed to the Constitutional Court for Sor to be banned. “The party was created by oligarchs and for oligarchs. From the very beginning, its goal was to discredit the idea of democracy and to imitate public support. The party was created as an offshoot or a political tool of an organized criminal group,” the official said at the time.

In December, the Venice Commission stated that the party being declared unconstitutional would violate the right to freedom of association. However, even this did not prevent the trial that resulted in the ruling. On June 19, the Constitutional Court of Moldova issued a verdict to dissolve it on the basis of illegal funding and supposed bribery of voters and participants of rallies. 

According to the court order, the party is considered immediately dissolved from the moment the verdict was proclaimed. Its property must be handed over to the state, and although its deputies will retain their mandates, they can no longer form a faction or join other parliamentary groups. All documents adopted by the party no longer have legal force, and the Ministry of Justice will soon establish a special committee that will be responsible for terminating the party’s activities and excluding it from the state register of legal entities.

The decision was unanimously supported by representatives of the pro-European Party of Action and Solidarity. Moldovan President Maia Sandu said that Sor was a political power created “out of corruption and for corruption” and for this reason “threatens the constitutional order and security of the state.”

“The citizens of Moldova have always defended their freedom and demanded equal law for all. The Republic of Moldova must become a state that punishes and prevents the corrupt from using the state and public money for personal gain. (...)  Only a state cleansed of those who steal from it can provide welfare to its citizens,” the president said.

https://www.rt.com/russia/578490-european-country-has-banned-opposition/