The recent elections in Moldova have shown there are no changes in terms of democratic rights in that country. Everything that happened in the referendum on constitutional changes and presidential elections in 2024 was repeated.
Until the votes from the diaspora arrive, the election result shows the opposition to the ruling majority gathered around Maia Sandu is leading by a couple of percentage points. But, when the votes from the diaspora arrive, the final outcome changes, and the “narrow majority” goes to the side of the current government.
The government’s rating has further declined over the past year, and now they have resorted to additional political engineering: the number of polling stations in Transnistria was halved, bridges over the Dniester were closed on election day so that voters would not accidentally go to “separated” polling stations, “media noise” was increased to the maximum, and “special operations” were conducted with the aim of convincing the public that it was a fateful vote between the promising EU and the sinister Russia.
In total, compared to the second round of the presidential elections a year ago, the opposition won about 30,000 votes more, and the ruling party even 150,000 votes less (Maia Sandu in October 2024 in the presidential elections had 930,000 votes, and now the result of her list is about 780,000).
In addition, the government’s result was influenced by the “meddling” of George Simion from Romania in the Moldovan elections. The anti-system presidential candidate from Romania, who “jumped” into the race after the brutal elimination of Calin Georgescu, somehow he got revenge against opponents from Brussels by “pushing” Vasile Costiuc’s party called Democrația Acasă (translated – Democracy at Home) into parliament. Until yesterday, the party, which pollsters did not find above one percent, won 5.6 percent of the vote thanks to a social media campaign led by Simion.
This may represent a hint that in Moldova Euroscepticism is taking shape on completely different grounds than before, i.e. that it is not all about the constructed polarization “EU or Russia”. This is a new and significant detail for the Moldovan political system.
Hellbound and Down 