A group of people initiated a referendum for the removal of Sergiu Dumbrava from the office of Mayor of Onesti village in Hancesti district. According to the law, the mayor can be sacked by the same number of voters that elected him. On August 7, the Central Election Commission (CEC) formally approved the initiative group, Info-Prim Neo reports. On June 23, an initiative group of 22 people sent a request to the Hancesti Court. The referendum question accepted by the court is: “Do you agree with the removal of Sergiu Dumbrava from office?”. Some members of the Central Election Commission said that the questions might mislead or suggest the answer for voters. CEC Secretary Andrei Volentir informed that the community had 1,300 voters and that the initiative group needed the signatures of 10%, meaning about 130, to organize the referendum. For the referendum to be successful, at least half the electorate must come to the polling stations and the same number of voters that elected Sergiu Dumbrava must vote “yes”. The initiative group should collect all the necessary signatures until September 19 and presented them to the Hancesti Court, where the authenticity of the signatures will be verified. If the lists are good, CEC will set the date of the referendum. Valentina Doronceanu, leader of the initiative group for organizing the referendum, told Info-Prim Neo that the mayor ignored his obligations. “He is rude. He is harsh with those who didn’t vote for him. He doesn’t offer us audiences, he names us animals and renegades. We never find him at his job. He’s always on his business, winning all the tenders at the school or the kindergarten. He mistook the village hall’s budget for his own pocket”, declared Valentina Doronceanu. She said that Mayor Dumbrava sold the community’s aqueduct and an inspection revealed that large amounts of money were spent unjustifiably by the mayor. Sergiu Dumbrava is at his second term in office. “He won thanks to promises. He offered ice-creams and barbecues. Now, people opened their eyes and don’t want him in charge anymore. We don’t want to pay taxes because they go into his pocket”, said Valentina Dumbrava. The leader of the initiative group claims to have forgotten how many votes Sergiu Dumbrava obtained at the elections, but she is sure he will be removed after the referendum. Between 2000 and 2010, there were registered 26 referendum initiatives, but only 14 were actually held and only in 7 cases the mayor was removed from office.