The mayor of Giurgiulesti village of Cahul district attacked an employee of the mayor's office, accusing her of hatching a plot against him for the local elections of 2011. Being under the influence of alcohol, the headman slapped the woman across the face at a shop in Giurgiulesti last weekend, Info-Prim Neo reports, quoting Radio Univers FM working in Cahul. Mayor Nicolae Tornea has headed the community for 16 years, holding the fourth consecutive office. According to villagers, the headman became furious when he found out that employee Tatiana Galateanu intended to run for mayor and was plotting against him. Witnesses said that after the two exchanged replies, Nicolae Tornea slapped and pushed Tatiana Galateanu. She fell and hit her leg. According to Eugenia Arabadji and Lidia Bostan – employees of the mayor's office who were in the shop at that time, the inebriated mayor was sleeping with the head on the table. “Our mayor beats the people in the shop. Not even an alcoholic will do such a thing,” said Nicolae Bratko, who intervened when the mayor attacked Tatiana Galateanu. The man said things could have been worse if he had not entered the shop. Asked by Univers FM's reporter if the witnesses tell the truth, mayor Nicolae Tornea admitted that he abused alcohol on that day, but denied having hit Tatiana Galateanu. He said it was the woman who hit him first, adding they started to argue because Tatiana Galateanu left work half an hour earlier. The mayor said he knows about Tatiana Galateanu's intention to run for mayor in 2011 and does not hide that this fact bothers him.