Chisinau Council vote recount suspended again

The vote recount for the Chisinau Municipal Council (CMC) was suspended for a second time in less than in 24 hours, this time by order of the Supreme Court of Justice. Iulian Balan, the chairman of the Chisinau Election Council, has told Info-Prim Neo that the Supreme Court's decision doesn't reverse the recount order of the Court of Appeals, but only suspends the procedure for a period of time. It has been reported that the Supreme Court's suspension will remain in place until the Court decides on the merits. The recount of the June 5 votes for the CMC was ordered by the Court of Appeals, following a request by the Liberal Party. On Wednesday evening, June 22, the Centru District Court suspended the procedure when a Communist councilor claimed that the electoral bureaus assigned to do the recount needed to be changed. On Thursday, the Court of Appeals upheld its earlier decision and ordered the recount with the electoral bureaus unchanged. Several hours later, the Supreme Court suspended the procedure again.