The Republic of Moldova’s pro-EU Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) received over 50% of the votes – more than twice that of its main rival, the Patriotic Bloc (below 25%) of moderate pro-Russian orientation – and is expected to get the majority of seats in the parliament after the September 28 general elections, according to preliminary data published by the Central Electoral Commission.
Winning a majority of votes in parliament will allow the party of president Maia Sandu to continue the country’s European Union accession preparations. The pro-EU authorities in Chisinau have campaigned on an optimistic promise to obtain the accession permit by 2028 – ahead of the next parliamentary elections.
Sunday’s elections took place under tense conditions, with bomb warnings targeting polling stations abroad (key source of votes for the pro-EU party PAS) and the bridges over the Dniester – crowded by pro-Russian electorate having to reach the polling stations on the other side of the river.
Before the voting day, the authorities unveiled illegal financing schemes for pro-Russian parties and criminal organisations channelling money for vote buying and organising anti-government protests. They also exposed sophisticated online campaigns involving bot farms and influencers linked to Russia.
Fugitive oligarch Ilan Shor allegedly organised and financed the electoral corruption networks, supposedly in connection with the Russian support. Shor has also been involved in helping the Russian state bypass the Western sanctions by cryptocurrency operations – also used in sending money to Moldova.
On the other side, the pro-EU authorities in Moldova engaged in active strategies to respond to the hybrid threats coming from Russia. Two opposition parties, including Inima Moldovei (Heart of Moldova) of former governor of Gagauzia Irina Vlah, one of the three parties in the main opposition coalition, were banned from running in the elections just two days before the ballot. Previously, the authorities restricted the civil rights of opposition leaders, including Irina Vlah, primarily by freezing their bank accounts.
These measures were based not on court rulings, but on sanctions imposed by Western countries for “active support of Russia.”
Furthermore, on September 26, the CEC decided to relocate five voting stations initially designated for voters in Transnistria. Originally announced to be located within the separatist region, the stations were moved to territory controlled by the constitutional authorities only two days before the ballot.
Opposition parties claimed that construction works on bridges across the Dniester River, separating the two sides of the country, had been initiated by the authorities deliberately before the elections in order to prevent pro-Russian voters from reaching polling stations.
The turnout in the September 28 elections reached 52%, with 1.6 million ballots cast. Out of this, 280,000 (17.5%) of votes were expressed abroad. The votes in Russia (4,200) and Belarus (288) accounted for a very small part of this, with Italy (81,500), Germany (38,400), the UK (27,600), and France (25,700) accounting for the majority.
In Moldova, 376,000 votes were expressed in the capital city Chisinau (23.5% of the total number of votes, 54.7% turnout), and 12,300 votes 90.8% of the total votes) were expressed in the pro-Russian separatist region of Transnistria (as most of the voters were relocated out of the separatist region).
As regards the results of the elections by region, PAS received 78% of the votes abroad and 44% of the votes in the country. The Patriotic Bloc received only just over 5% of the ballots abroad and over 28% at home. The support for the pro-EU party PAS was only 52% in Chisinau, where the Patriotic Bloc also fared below the average (21%). The political bloc that includes the mayor of Chisinau, Ion Ceban, Alternativa, received 14.5% of the votes in the capital city – nearly twice its overall score.
Only three other political entities besides PAS and the Patriotic Bloc will have members in the country’s parliament: the electoral bloc Alternativa (8.0% of the votes), Our Party (6.2%), and Democracy Home (PPDA, 5.6%). All of them have claimed a pro-EU orientation, but their founding members are rather tied to Russia.
Alternativa is formed by electoral vehicles of incumbent mayor of Chișinău Ion Ceban (with an entry ban in Romania), 2024 presidential candidate Alexandr Stoianoglo (backed by former President Igor Dodon), former prime minister Ion Chicu (former Prime Minister appointed by Igor Dodon), and former MP Mark Tkachuk (known for his support for Moldova’s integration into the Eurasian Union and fostering strong ties with Russia).
Our Party is the political vehicle of Renato Usatii, who runs his businesses and has derived his wealth in Russia. PPDA, despite its name resembling the former pro-EU political party Dignity and Truth (PPDA) of Andrei Nastase, is in fact a new party formed by Vasile Costiuc in 2011 but re-launched this year with the support of the Romanian isolationist Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR).
iulian@romania-insider.com
(Photo source: Inquam Photos / Octav Ganea)
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