Pending the final count, some exit polls indicate that the current president of Moldova, Maia Sandu, would have managed to win forward the referendum to include in the preamble of the Constitution the declarative tagline that integration in the European Union constitutes a “strategic objective” for this former Soviet republic.
Regarding the results of the presidential elections, Sandu’s candidacy has been the most voted although he will have to go to a second round on November 3, having as his rival the pro-Russian Alexandru Stoianoglo, former attorney general and supported by the Socialist Party of the Republic of Moldova (PSRM). Despite predictions about possible provocations, the elections passed this Sunday without any significant incident.
The opposition has accused the authorities of having organized the “dirtiest” electoral campaign in the last 33 years, after Moldova became independent from the former Soviet Union, and believes that there will be fraud in the counting of the votes. At the moment, according to lawyer Nicolae Panfil, observer of the Promo-Lex association for democratic cleansing, nearly 200 complaints have already been filed for possible violations of the electoral law. Promo-Lex observers, in their words, “are present in 614 polling stations, including those where citizens residing in Transnistria».
For his part, Ion Chicu, one of the presidential candidates, has assured the media that “the authorities are forcing people to vote and that is a serious violation” of the regulations. We will have to see what happens when the results are announced, since the Moldovan Government assures that riots will be promoted from Russia using people specially trained for this with the money of the exiled oligarch, Ilan Shor.
In statements to Bloomberg, the Moldovan Deputy Minister of European Integration, Cristina Guerasimova, maintains that Russia “has spent about 100 million euros to try to disrupt the elections.” In his words, “we are talking about the dissemination of false information, destabilization of the situation in the country and purchase of votes.”
Gerasimova says she is convinced that, if these tactics work, “they can be used in other European countries (…) we are now the testing ground.” “They intend to prevent Moldova from becoming a member country of the EU,” he says, and warns that “Moscow’s narrative tries to instil that a turn towards Brussels is equivalent to choosing war,” as is happening in Ukraine. On Friday, the brand new Secretary General of NATO, Mark Ruttesaid that “Russia wants to derail Moldova’s European trajectory.”
Power interests
The pro-Russians consider that the initiative to hold a referendum on future membership in the European Union does not serve both the national interest and the interests of power; it aims to strengthen the position of the current Government. This is what the presidential candidate, Renato Usatii, leader of the Nuestro Partido party, estimates.
In 2022, after the start of the Russian invasion of UkraineMoldova, which during its three decades of independence had proclaimed “friendship with all, east and west”, modified its position and advocated joining the EU. It submitted the request on March 3, 2022 and, three months later, Brussels officially began, as with Ukraine, talks on future integration. Both countries received candidate status for EU membership. In Chisinau they are optimistic and believe that they will be able to achieve this goal by 2030.
The European Commission has established nine recommendations for Moldova, including effectively fighting corruption, which includes eradicating the influence of big business in political decisions, and guaranteeing judicial independence. The constitutional change for convergence with Europe will mean the alignment of Chisinau with the constituent and founding treaties of the EU.
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