Expert: Gagauz Assembly rejects Shor's attempts to control region
A new attempt to appoint an executive committee in the Gagauz Autonomous Territorial Unit (ATU) failed on Tuesday. According to experts, the disagreements between deputies in the region and the governor are due to the fact that the Gagauz People's Assembly does not want to be used as a political tool by Ilan Shor in his fight with the authorities in Chisinau.
Ilan Shor, who is behind the new governor of Gagauzia, wants to impose his own rules in the region, but deputies in the People's Assembly disagree with both the new composition of the executive committee and some of the governor's approaches that violate local legislation, said political analyst Vladislav Kulminski.
"The People's Assembly has refused to accept Shor's strategy of using Gagauzia as a weapon in his fight against Chisinau. The ATU Gagauzia has found itself in a state of total diplomatic isolation, and investments have stopped. It is absolutely clear that handing over power to Shor is harmful to the Gagauz autonomy," Kulminski said.
Governor Eugenia Guțul proposed to the deputies of the People's Assembly in Comrat to postpone the extraordinary session, in which the composition of the Gagauzia Executive Committee was to be examined. She cited as a reason the fact that some candidates were absent from the meeting, and others had not been able to go through all the necessary committees.
On July 28, the first session of the People's Assembly took place. At that time, local elected officials objected that some candidates proposed on the executive committee list were presented remotely, while they should have been present in person. Local deputies also found that some candidates presented by Evghenia Guțul do not speak the Gagauz language, which violates the regulations of the autonomy. The People's Assembly of Gagauzia held another session, which was accompanied by a protest by the governor's supporters. The protesters demanded that the full team proposed by Evghenia Guțul be approved, despite the fact that seven candidates did not pass the Gagauz language test. In the end, the People's Assembly did not approve the composition of the Executive Committee.
On Tuesday, the regional prosecutor's office opened a misdemeanour case against the Governor of Gagauzia, Evghenia Guțul, on charges of abuse of power and exceeding her official duties.
Defenders of the governor are calling the case a political one that was instigated by the government in Chisinau.
Translated by Iurie Tataru
