The vote on whether the Moldova will continue to take the pro -European path or return to Russian influence. After counting more than half of the votes, it seems that the government party of the action and Solidarity (PAS) could attribute overcrete victory.
However, it will be important how much he will get in parliament, because until now it has had a majority. It has now gained almost 44 percent of the vote, while the second patriotic block has 28 percent.
For the time being, this is a very positive result, because surveys have indicated similar support to the patriotic block, which could mean problems during coalition folding.
Now, however, the Passport could get even much stronger support from the Great Moldovan diaspora, which lives in the west and whose voices are calculated only in the end.
If the government party retains most of the parliament, it promised to continue pro -European reforms and a hard approach to Russia. But if he does not reach most of the chairs, he will have to compose a coalition with other entities, which could be problematic.
For the patriotic block, in which the former President Igor Dodon also plays a significant role, the results so far mean to the failure. The alliance of left -wing and pro -Russian parties was defined against European integration, which, according to her, is a threat to the independence of Moldova. On the contrary, it advocates closer ties with Russia, especially on the economic level.
However, Dodon appeared immediately after the closure of the polling stations and said that his Prior Allies from the Patriotic Election Bloc won the elections – but at that time no official results were available.
“We will not allow destabilization. Citizens voted. Their vote must be respected even if you do not like it,” he said with reference to President Sandu and her party.
He also called on his supporters for Monday’s mass demonstration to “defend the opposition victory”. It can be expected that the opposition parties will be heard criticism of the transparency of the vote.
Interventions in the elections?
In addition to legislative powers, the Moldovan Parliament has considerable control over powerful power by approved by the Prime Minister and the Cabinet, so the result of Sunday’s vote is particularly important.
However, elections to the Moldovan Parliament are one of the most important moments for the country also because of the Russian interventions that the government has warned for a long time, and in which Moscow was supposed to insert hundreds of millions of euros.
President Maia Sandová also described the vote as a examination of hybrid threats that Moscow may later apply in other countries.
“This is the biggest effort of Moscow and they are the most important elections since the declaration of the independence of the Republic of Moldova in 1991,” Prime Minister Dorin told AFP at the Friday Assembly of Passport.
Throughout this year’s campaign, the authorities spoke of an unprecedented number of false news flooding the Internet – most of them, as officials claimed, were directed against Sanda and its supporters and created by prockemelian forces.
Elections in Moldova
In recent years, the Eastern European country has been exalted from the Russian sphere of influence and approached the European Union. Sunday parliamentary elections will determine whether this direction will continue. For power, pro -Russian powers reach for.
Both authorities and journalists have revealed an extensive network of votes buying and gaining additional support with traces to Moscow last year, when despite estimates just just a referendum to enshrine the efforts of the country to enter the European Union into the Constitution.
The same scenario was repeated during the presidential elections, in which only, and mainly thanks to the voices of the Diaspora, was won by Sandu.
Russia has denied the accusation of Kišiněv that he is leading an online misinformation campaign and trying to buy voices and trigger unrest. The Moldovan opposition, which is mostly pro -Russian, accused the passport of fraud planning.
During the election day, there were reports of explosive facilities in the polling stations where the Moldovans voted. Such disruption of the vote was to occur in Italy, Spain, Romania, Belgium and the United States. Likewise, the inhabitants of the separatist Transnistria complained about the difficulties during the elections, where traffic complications on the bridges across the Dniest complicated some of the possibility to vote.
While Western diaspora was expected to support the government party, the Transnistria was long -term pro -Russian. There are also long -term Russian troops in the region.
The election surveys, as before, came across this year that one third of the population until the last moment was not determined to whom to give their voice. Therefore, interim results are really different from the assumptions.
Union support and the threat of war
The main theme of the elections was the war in neighboring Ukraine and the fears of spilling it, but each party was different to the situation.
“The security question is undoubtedly a significant factor in the current elections. The Government Party emphasizes the process of integrating into the EU and the threat of war if the elections win opposition forces called pro -Russian. A similar security -related rhetoric promotes ‘patriotic block accusing the pass of’ militarization.”
The country’s journey to the European Union was also crucial. The support of people’s membership has intensified especially since Russia has unleashed an extensive invasion in the neighboring country, after all, Moldova and Ukraine then launched the access process together. Unlike the attacked country, however, Kisinav does not face sentences from Hungary.
Photo: Reuters
Demonstration to support Passport in Chisiněva.
For 2.4 million inhabitants of one of the poorest countries in Europe, it was in the elections and frustration of economic problems that are connected with the efforts of Moldova to divert from Russia.
Although the European Union has tried to invest in the development of the country, people are struggling with significant inflation and especially energy prices. At the beginning of the year, the country also faced an energy crisis due to a stopper from Russia.
“In addition to the government party (PAS), other forces are likely to enter the parliament that promote the restoration of direct gas supplies from Russia to reduce energy tariffs that have significantly influenced the population’s living conditions in recent years,” adds Cenusa.
