The Europeanist side has defeated the Prorruso block in the legislative elections held this Sunday in Moldova. The ruling party and solidarity party (PAS), from President Maia Sandu, has obtained 50.1% of the votes, with practically 100% of the votes scrutinized. The patriotic bloc, an alliance related to Moscow composed of socialists, communists and the future minority formation of Moldova, remained secondly with 24.19%. That result would give the PAS an absolute majority in the Parliament of at least 51 seats over a total of 101.
The triumph of the Europeanist formation has been broader than the surveys predicted and what a society expected more and more polarized by the effect of interference and Russian propaganda. He fed fear that the PAS was losing support, in the midst of a serious economic crisis marked by the increase in electricity and an inflation of 30%. But the support of this party demonstrates the desire of the Moldavos to walk towards the EU, a block to which it intends to adhere in 2030.
nestled between Romania and Ukraine, which was playing to follow the European path or return to the orbit of Russia. Participation at 21.00 (one hour less in peninsular Spain) was 52% of the census, almost 1.6 million people.
Before knowing the results, the authorities of this small country of 2.4 million inhabitants – in addition to more than one million molds abroad – had detected and neutralized cyber attacks directed against the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) and several electoral tables of the diaspora.
The Prime Minister, Dorin Recean, stressed that the Information and Safety Technology Service (STISC) has closed about 4,000 websites, while revealing 16 million cyber attack attempts during Sunday night. “The attacks are simultaneously orchestrated with the aim of overloading the Stisc network, which serves the Central Electoral Commission and other infrastructure of the elections,” he said.
In Spain, the Electoral Section of Alicante, enabled in a central hotel in the city, had to be evacuated for just over an hour by bomb alert around 13.00. There were also other notices in Romania, Italy, Belgium and the United States. After knowing the false bomb threats, he encouraged the diaspora, key to the victory of the Pas ruling.
In a video broadcast on social networks, the head of state said Russia “is not a friend of Moldova, but a state that attacked a neighboring country without any reason, closed the gas in Moldova and wants to buy the votes and the country.” Before knowing the results, one of the main opponents of the patriotic bloc, the Igor Dodon, accused Sandu of wanting to cancel the elections, according to “the Romania model.”
“I have seen how Maia Sandu has already declared that she can cancel parliamentary elections,” said Dodon. “This denotes fear and panic in the government, which loses power because it has not done anything for four years,” said the former socialist president, referring to Sandu’s statement that all information about the incidents during the elections would be presented to the forces of the order. The president had remarked: “The State does everything possible to protect people. They are not afraid, they will vote, it is our sovereign right to decide for our country.”
Almost 3.3 million Moldavos were called to vote in elections that threatened to derail the Europeanist path. If Moldova fell under the influence of Kremlin, he would mean a considerable problem for Ukraine. Among other reasons, because Moscow has about 1,500 Russian soldiers in Transnistria, a proruse majority enclave that proclaimed itself independent after the fall of the Soviet Union.
Moldova, embedded between Ukraine and Romania, faces a massive hybrid offensive, orchestrated by the Kremlin, according to Mihai Isac, expert from the Black Sea region and in Russian misinformation. “From cyber attacks to the manipulation of information, through attempts to falsify the vote and preparations to promote violent protests, the entire campaign has a clear purpose: diverting the will of citizens,” says Isac, who also warns of Russian interference in voters from abroad.
“We are under permanent siege for foreign state entities. Hours before the elections, the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation published a statement on its official website in which it accused the European Union of preparing to occupy molding,” explains the analyst. Isac believes that Kremlin “is trying to create a terror regime, a tense situation to benefit actors who are not interested in the good of the population.”
This rhetoric, explains Isac, is part of an intimidation strategy and informative chaos aimed at weakening the confidence of citizens in Western partners. And it emphasizes that Russia’s resources exceed the ability of any state to completely eradicate destabilization networks. The analyst considers that Moscow throws a “money ocean”, which estimates more than 100 million euros, to promote its propaganda and destabilize the country.
Valeriu Pasa, director of Watchdog, a Moldavo analysis center that has deployed observers to electoral schools, says: “Telegram channels controlled by Russia were filled with unfounded accusations, such as that a fraud is being committed in the diaspora vote.” He also denounces that the prorous opposition has bought votes in Transnistria. “They do everything possible to manufacture tests and maintain that the elections have been fraudulent. Thus they could resort to them,” says the expert.
President Ukraine, Volodimir Zelenski, expressed his support for Proeuropea Formation on Sunday to claim that Russia intends to take political control of the country, which could lead to a greater Russian military presence in the Moldavo territory. “Yeah [Rusia] assures its own matches in Parliament [moldavo]the next step will be the government; Then, the Presidency; And, then, the military presence will come, ”Zelenski said in a press conference, cited by Ukrinform. He also warned of what can happen in Transnistria:“ If it is silent, it is now because you are afraid of us, it received clear signs at the beginning of the war. However, if the Moldova policy becomes it, those who are silent today could become noisy. ”
