Within an interview for Timpul newspaper, Vlad Plahotniuc shared his opinion about the invalidation of Chisinau elections. The politician also said that somebody requested his party and the Government to intervene in the solution that will be taken by the Supreme Court. The official said it is not fair to influence such an important decision. Also, he added that the elections were very democratic, but there were many encroaches still.

-Mr.Plahotniuc, what is the position of PDM regarding the elections?

-As you know, PDM accepted the result of the elections. We congratulated the state institutions for the way the elections were organized. We consider that the elections were organized in a democratic way. Indeed, there were many encroaches, but both of the candidates broke the rules. With all these, we didn't expect such a result. Many instances decided not to validate the results of the elections, so this decision will be analyzed.

- How do you evaluate the politic effect of this decision? 

 -This decision is very dangerous for all the parties, inclusively for PDM. We can't admit that we can expect such a situation at the parliamentary elections. This is why, we urged the lawyers to analyze both the law invoked by the instances in their decisions, so we will understand what encroaches are not admitted.  

 We will have a serious decision about what happened with the Chisinau elections, not only in the second round, but in the first one too. The elections legislation was encroached and we should analyze it. This is why, I will ask my party colleagues to think about organizing a parliamentary commission to analyze the encroaches that were realized on the elections. One of the examples is the involvement of the foreign politicians in the Chisinau elections. Now, what should we do at the parliamentary elections? To watch the socialists while they walk around the country with the portraits of the Russian leaders? Because of this encroach, the parliamentary elections will take place in a tense way.

-How will PDM and the Government manage this difficult situation?

Here I want to refer to the way some persons asked the Government and the Democratic Party to solve this issue. Besides the public requests, we also received some suggestions of some foreign politicians. This happened before the Court of Appeal announced their decision. This is unacceptable to ask the Government or a political party to influence such a decision.

- But how did you want to get involved?

We ask everybody who requested our involvement to tell us clearly how's our intervention in their opinions: What does the Government do? To ignore judges and force them to make the decision that is required? What does PDM do? To ignore the five judges and ask them to write another decision? How could it be so? Obviously, nobody could answer what they want from us, they only spoke a solution favoring election validation. 

Under these circumstances, I wonder, what was the role of these pressures on the Government or PDM? What are the consolidation of the rule of law and the European Union in these approaches? The Democratic Party is the only party that really suffers from the invalidation of the Chisinau elections, even if it is not our responsibility to change the decision taken in any way. Then the question comes, who used the whole situation? 

I've followed some opinions the past days, that the PDM needs to solve this situation either by non-involvement or by involvement. To better understand what direction it has taken to address this case. As you can see, at this stage we have more questions than answers. But the time will come to clarify all, including understanding who the real beneficiaries of this situation are.

- There are voices saying that invalidating elections could lead to halt foreign funding. Is the Government prepared to cope with such a situation?

It's a scenario that I don't really consider, it would defy any logic and reality. It is serious that such threats with extortion, especially with the Government, have existed these days, that if higher courts do not make another decision, Moldova would remain without external funding.

Here we can see a measure has gone unacceptably and I believe that those who operate with such threats to our country, whether they are our politicians or external politicians, they should realize what consequences can be when their actions against a state.

It is inadmissible for someone to punish a whole country for a court decision, given that the Government has no power to intervene in such situations. But if the situation is to be escalated in such a bad way, a confirmation behind these decisions could could exist and we need to intervene firmly with decisions that put things back on their natural course.

- Will the country's budget suffer if some external financing is halted or postponed?

You know that it's the matter the big sums, the external funds this government will receive. 

Being an electoral year, we also provided the possibility of these amounts being postponed or canceled and if the elections in Chisinau were not invalidated, because we all understand certain political movements and possible interests. We have identified alternative solutions to these funding from the beginning of the year. That is why there is no question that Moldovans will suffer financially from such decisions. All ongoing projects will be completed. But the Republic of Moldova will suffer a huge injustice. The Government would have been charged absolutely wrongly because it did not take legal action to change the decision on the validation of elections in Chisinau. No matter how strange it sounds, that's the reality, because the Government has absolutely fulfilled all the commitments agreed with the European partners. So, such a decision can only be interpreted in the light of such a highly unfair conclusion. However, we are prepared for any kind of decision, we are ready to pay this political price as a government. We think it's lower than what we would have paid if we had accepted the instigation of pressure on justice. We hope, however, that nobody has the interest to escalate dangerously now the situation in Moldova through incorrect decisions and unpredictable consequences. That would only complicate the situation.

- Still, it being the first case of this kind in Moldova, won't such reactions be natural?

There were previous cases when the Court has taken decision tied to elections or political campaign. We had such a case in 2014 regarding Renato Usatîi, when he was declared an unfit candidate a few days before the elections, through a court's decision. Why didn't people protest then? Why did finances continued coming to Moldova? Why hasn't the pro-European opposition criticized the court's decision? Or is the court's decision commented based on personal or geopolitical interests? There is not much difference between the decision taken by the court at the time and now, both being debatable and can be appealed. The sole difference is that at the time, the far-right opposition stayed home and were happy that Usatîi was taken out, as he was not member of their party, they considered the court's decision to be fair. Here, we can see double standards. Where was Maia Sandu at the time? She was a minister of PLDM, a party that administrated the Justice, therefore she decided that the court's decision was fair and they have justly taken out a candidate a few days before the elections, as she would not criticize her own party.

Let it be clear, I am the last person who would ever defend Usatîi or the decision taken at the time by the court, you all know well his relations with PDM. What I wish to say through this example, is that the pro-European opposition and its supporters is treating the situations from the Republic of Moldova based on double standards.

- What do you believe to be the solution for this situation?

I believe that a solution for this situation is not so simple and cannot be achieved is a day or two. First of all, we must fully understand what the decision was based on, to see the loopholes in the legislation, to identify certain measures, that must be taken in the future, so that this situation will not be encountered in the next elections. We believe that this situation must not escalate, if we do not wish to have even bigger surprises in the country, as I am sure that many are watching carefully over Moldova and cannot wait for chaos to be kindled. While if the pro-European opposition believes this chaos to be in their favor, they are gravely mistaken, nobody would grant them such a gift. Those who will benefit from this situation will never be those who support the country's European integration.

- What do you think of the protests that recently took place? They shout there against PDM, against you, against the Government.

People have the right to protest when they are displeased. Still, it is important for them to express what they truly think and not be manipulated. I understand why organizers are embezzling the protester's message against the Government, or PDM, general elections will take place this year and this is their way to unfold a political campaign, draw attention from the problem and the real reason why the mayoral elections were not validated. But, just like in previous protests, people will understand in the end what are the intentions of the organizers. I remind that protests from last year led to a new party being established, this was the aim that the organizers had in mind.

This time, it seems that people are trained in an activity aiming to the general elections, while all those protests became a start for a political campaign of PPDA-PAS-PLDM.

Even in this situation, I believe it to be important for all conditions to be offered for people to be able to freely protest and the institutions to do their job and ensure that this actions takes place under good and safe conditions.