Moldovan police chief urges citizens to report vote-buying ahead of Sunday’s parliamentary elections.
Appeal from Moldova’s Police Chief
On Sunday, September 28, Moldova will hold parliamentary elections. The head of Moldova’s police has repeatedly urged citizens to report electoral corruption. According to him, illegal political financing and vote-buying have doubled since the last elections in 2023.
“An unprecedented scale,” said Viorel Cernauteanu. Criminal groups linked to certain oligarchs and politicians, funded by Russia, are paying between 170 to 350 zloty per vote. He called on people to report such cases, as doing so could protect those who receive such offers. The police chief believes that illegal activities before the elections have reached a massive scale. “Illegal advertising, disinformation, party financing, and vote-buying on Moscow’s orders have reached an unprecedented scale. The greatest risk is destabilization—this is not only a threat to democracy but also to people’s lives,” said the head of the General Police Inspectorate. A few days ago, police arrested over 70 people trained in Serbia to incite riots. Several groups buying votes and organizing internet troll farms were also dismantled.
Opposition Gains Growing Support
On Sunday, citizens will decide whether Moldova will continue aspiring to join the European Union or shift more toward the East. Recent polls show a highly volatile electoral situation. Support for the pro-European Party of Action and Solidarity, which has been in power for four years, has been declining week by week. For the first time six days ago, the opposition Patriotic Electoral Bloc of Communists and Socialists took the lead. However, the latest poll shows a significant advantage for pro-European forces, which also count on hundreds of thousands of votes from the diaspora.
“This diaspora living in Western Europe has an idea of how Moldova might look in the future—not in a few years, but in a few decades,” said Professor Robert Rajczyk of the Institute of Central Europe. Votes from abroad could make up even 20 percent of the total. Therefore, the final days of the campaign are primarily directed at them.
