Photo: pozitciya.com.ua
The presidential election in Moldova took place on 20 October in an atmosphere of considerable tension, with incumbent President Maia Sandu remaining the frontrunner despite a narrow gap between the candidates. A referendum on the country’s accession to the European Union was held in parallel with the elections. This was reported by hromadske.ua.
The tension of the election and referendum
Both events were accompanied by vote buying, fraud and aggressive Russian propaganda. Moldovan citizens elected a president from 11 candidates, including:
- Maia Sandu is the current president with a pro-European policy, and during her term in office, she gained the status of an EU candidate.
- Oleksandr Stoyanoglo is a former Prosecutor General and a representative of the pro-Russian Party of Socialists.
- Renato Usatyi is the leader of the pro-Russian Nasha Pravda party, who holds Russian citizenship.
- Andrei Năstase is the founder of the Dignity and Truth Platform party and a former Sandu ally.
- Other candidates include MPs and ministers with different political views.
Opinion polls before the election showed that 35.8% of voters supported Sandu, while the competition did not reach 10%.
Election results
The election ended in a predictable victory for Sandu, who received 42.1% of the vote. However, her rivals, Stoianoglo and Usatîi, won 26.2% and 13.7% respectively. In Falesti district, where Sandu is a local, she came third.
The referendum on European integration was even more unexpected. Initially, the results showed opposing sentiments: 55% against and 45% in favour of the constitutional amendments. However, after the votes from abroad were counted, the situation changed, and as of 12:00 on 21 October, 50.16% supported the changes, while 49.84% did not.
Reaction to falsifications
Maia Sandu publicly stated that Moldova was the victim of unprecedented fraud. She announced her intention to buy 300,000 votes and pointed to the links between criminal groups and foreign forces.
Russia’s influence
The events in Moldova did not go unnoticed by Russia, which tried to use the elections and referendum for its own purposes. On the eve of the vote, anti-corruption authorities discovered that more than $15 million had been transferred from Russia to the accounts of Moldovan citizens, indicating possible vote buying.
Deputy Prime Minister Cristina Gerasimova noted that Russia spent almost 100 million euros to destabilise the elections. She stressed that Moldova had become a testing ground for new methods of Russian influence that could be used in other countries.
The presidential election and referendum in Moldova demonstrated not only the activity of internal political forces, but also the dangerous influence of external actors. Russian propaganda and funding remain a serious threat to the country’s democratic processes. The events in Moldova underscore the importance of paying attention to external influences in political elections, which could have implications for security and stability in the region.
