Moldovan President Maia Sandu speaks at the USAID “Democracy Delivers” event at the Ford Foundation Center for Social Justice in New York City, United States, on the sidelines of the 78th United Nations General Assembly on September 20, 2023. ZAK BENNETT/Pool via Portal/File Photo Purchase license rights
CHISINAU, Nov 6 (Portal) – Moldova’s president’s pro-European party came first in hundreds of local elections, but fell short in a weekend vote that observers said was marred by foreign interference and a ban on a pro-European vote , not winning mayoral seats in major cities. Russian party.
Sunday’s election to elect 12,000 local officials nationwide, including the mayor of Chisinau, was seen as a test of President Maia Sandu’s pro-European course and came amid a barrage of accusations of Russian interference that Moscow denies.
Sandu’s ruling Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) won more than 40% of the votes cast for mayors, city councilors and district and village councils.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said in a preliminary report that the election campaign had been distorted by an “influx of illegal and foreign funds and the financial incentives used to influence voters’ choice.”
Ahead of the vote, Moldovan authorities accused Russia of “buying” votes by funneling $5 million to “criminal groups” led by fugitive businessman Ilan Shor, who is serving in absentia for his involvement in Moldovan bank fraud was convicted.
Just two days before the vote, authorities expelled the Shor-affiliated Chance party for security reasons, a decision that the OSCE said “limited voters’ choices and led to uncontested races in some smaller localities.”
“The blanket exclusion of candidates without the possibility of an effective legal remedy contradicts OSCE commitments and international standards,” it said.
Sandu’s party won mayoral seats in 244 of 898 villages, towns and municipalities in the first round of voting. They won these victories primarily in rural areas and their candidates failed to gain control of the major cities and the capital.
In the capital, incumbent mayor Ion Ceban said on Monday he defeated PAS’s Lilian Carp, narrowly missing out on a second round vote with 50.62% of the vote, according to preliminary results.
In other cities, the race for mayor in Balti went into a second round after the PAS party candidate was eliminated; in Cahul, an independent candidate won the mayor’s seat; In Orhei, an independent candidate with ties to Shor won in the first round.
Infrastructure Minister Andrei Spinu, deputy leader of PAS, said the main takeaway from the election was that Moldova’s “pro-European decision won confidently across the country.”
This is Moldova’s final national vote before presidential elections in November 2024, as the small former Soviet state bordering Romania seeks to advance its desire to join the European Union and leave Russia’s sphere of influence.
Sandu has denounced Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine and accused Moscow of plotting an attempted coup to overthrow it.
Writing by Tom Balmforth; Edited by Gareth Jones and Tomasz Janowski
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