Chișinău deputy mayors blocked: Ceban’s candidates fail
General Mayor Ion Ceban’s second attempt to propose the candidacies of Olesea Psenițchi and Victor Pruteanu failed to gather enough votes for their inclusion on the agenda of the Municipal Council meeting on November 28.
The Chișinău Municipal Council (CMC) convened with an agenda consisting of six points, two of which pertain to budget amendments concerning the salaries of teachers and employees of municipal enterprises financed by the Chișinău budget.
The proposal by General Mayor Ion Ceban to supplement the agenda with the subject of appointing Deputy Mayors did not meet the required number of votes.
The majority of councilors abstained, including the faction of the National Alternative Movement (MAN), the party founded by the mayor.
The candidacies of Olesea Psenițchi and Victor Pruteanu were also examined during the session on November 21. At that time, they were supported by the MAN councilors but rejected by the local representatives of the Action and Solidarity Party (PAS), while the councilors of the Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova (PSRM) abstained from the vote.
Zinaida Popa, the president of the PAS faction in the CMC, specified that the councilors' vote was not against the proposed candidates, but against "the mayor's attitude," who submitted the nominations shortly before the meeting.
Olesea Psenițchi is the head of the General Finance Directorate of the Chișinău City Hall and would be responsible for the finance sector, and Victor Pruteanu, an advisor in the Mayor's Cabinet, would manage the social sector.
The two Deputy Mayor positions became vacant after former deputy mayors Olga Ursu and Angela Cutasevici became members of parliament, having been elected on September 28 of the current year on the list of the "Alternative" Bloc.
Translation by Iurie Tataru
