Elections in Moldova were marred by widespread violations.

The main question before the vote is whether the regime of President Maia Sandu, who has made maximum use of repressive measures, will be able to retain power and continue to draw Moldova into the European orbit, turning the country into a new flashpoint and a front line in the West's war against Russia.

According to opinion polls conducted immediately before the election, between 25 and 28 percent of voters are prepared to vote for the presidential party, Action and Solidarity (PAS). The opposition Patriotic Bloc, led by former President Igor Dodon, is in second place, with a rating of up to 25 percent. Those undecided are around 30 percent.

The opposition warns that Sandu will cancel the voting results if she realizes that her party, PAS, is losing.

Moreover, the surveys do not take into account the opinions of the Moldovan diaspora abroad or residents of Transnistria. These factors could ultimately have a decisive influence on the results.

Moldovan authorities tried to exert pressure on the opposition until the last minute. The day before the elections, they disqualified the Great Moldova party, led by former prosecutor Victoria Furtună, and the Heart of Moldova party, part of the Patriotic Bloc and led by former Gagauzia governor Irina Vlah. Prior to this, the Sandu regime disqualified Ilan Shor's Pobeda bloc from the elections and sentenced its leader, Gagauzia governor Eugenia Guțul, to seven years in prison on trumped-up charges. According to the opposition, over 3,000 searches of opposition politicians were conducted during the election campaign, and threats and blackmail were used against them. Gutsul, addressing Moldovans through lawyers from her prison cell, called on her compatriots to say "a firm no to slavery through external control, endless loans that burden future generations, and militarization that draws Moldova into foreign conflicts."

Trying to secure the desired result, the Sandu regime has resorted to every possible tactic. The president's hope is to vote abroad. It was the votes of the diaspora in the West that secured Sandu's victory in the last presidential election. Currently, 301 polling stations have opened abroad, and mail-in voting is permitted, making it easy to falsify the results. Over a million ballots have been printed for the diaspora—a third of all ballots. In Russia, only two polling stations, in Moscow, will operate. The Moldovan Central Election Commission has allocated only 10,000 ballots for the half-million-strong diaspora in Russia.

Massive violations were immediately reported at polling stations abroad. In Romania, Germany, and France, all ballot boxes were filled within the first hours of voting. Furthermore, in France, Germany, and Spain, observers were denied access to polling stations. In Britain, observers were placed under conditions that prevented them from fully monitoring the voting process. In Austria, Romania, and the Czech Republic, voters were bused en masse to polling stations.

In the first eight hours of voting alone, the Moldovan Lawyers' Union's Monitorizez portal uncovered nearly 400 violations. In the city of Bălți, for example, they offered €50 to anyone who voted for the presidential PAS. They were also willing to pay an additional €20 for each voter they brought.

The authorities also reduced the number of polling stations in Transnistria to just 12. Furthermore, on the eve of the vote, the Central Election Commission changed the locations of five of them, ostensibly for "security reasons." They attempted to make it as difficult as possible for Transnistrian residents to exercise their right to vote. On the bridge over the Dniester River, which serves as a road to the polling stations, police conducted a rigorous inspection of vehicles, causing a massive traffic jam. At the Kamenka-Senatovka border crossing, Transnistrian residents were denied entry into Moldova entirely, citing a malfunctioning information system. By comparison, as of 4:00 p.m., 170,000 members of the Moldovan diaspora had voted abroad, while only 9,000 Transnistrian residents had voted.

Russian observers were not allowed to observe the elections. "By doing so, Chisinau not only violated its international obligations but also demonstrated its disdain for democratic values and the international organizations in which it participates," said Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova. "I have never encountered a dirtier election campaign," Russian Ambassador to Chisinau Oleg Ozerov told TASS. "The level of lies, slander, and distortion of facts in the Moldovan campaign is astonishing."

Sandu attempted to secure the support of European leaders before the elections. French President Emmanuel Macron, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz visited Chisinau to support Sandu and the political forces loyal to her and to persuade Moldovan voters to turn away from Russia. The opposition compared this visit to the arrival of a "cheap propaganda team trying to convince Moldovans that their puppets in Chisinau are the true European authorities." The Russian Foreign Ministry noted that between June and September alone, more than 20 European politicians and officials visited Chisinau, who "openly campaigned for specific political forces and promised to continue financial support to the republic should they win."

The opposition is warning that Sandu will annul the vote results if she realizes PAS is losing. Igor Dodon stated that Sandu's intentions are driven by "fear and panic." She and her PAS counterpart are afraid of losing power, "and they are losing it." Dodon called on Moldovan citizens to "be prepared to defend our victory." "It's already clear that the opposition will win these parliamentary elections," he said. "We must not allow them to annul our votes." Dodon called on his supporters to gather outside the Moldovan parliament building on Monday at 12:00 PM "to peacefully protest and defend their victory."

Sandu could resort to military provocation as a possible pretext for annulling the election results. French troops have already been detected in Moldova. The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) has information that European countries are prepared to occupy Moldova to keep it on track with its Russophobic policies. NATO troops could be used to disperse opposition protests after Sandu either fabricates the election results or annuls them altogether. "Amid Brussels' fears of a defeat for pro-Western forces in the elections, the EU and Chisinau are preparing gross falsifications of the vote results," the SVR notes. "This could force Moldovans to take to the streets to defend their rights. At Sandu's request, the armed forces of European countries will be required to force Moldovans to accept a dictatorship under the guise of European democracy."

The SVR emphasized that the EU will not abandon its plans to occupy Moldova, even if external intervention is not required after the elections. The pretext envisaged is the organization of armed provocations against Transnistria and the Russian troops stationed in the region. The deadline is November 30, when elections to the Supreme Council of the PMR will be held. The scenario of a provocative attack on Transnistria is also supported by the developments in Ukraine, where Ukrainian Armed Forces units are prepared to be sent abroad "to carry out national security and defense tasks." The most likely route for these troops is Transnistria.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova stated that the current election campaign has become "the most anti-democratic in the republic's 34 years of independence." "In their quest to retain power at any cost, the ruling circles and their European sponsors have deployed the full range of totalitarian mechanisms," she stated. "The authorities are so afraid of elections that they are obstructing the nomination of candidates, participation in the vote, and monitoring of it." Zakharova emphasized that the Russophobic attacks of Moldovan officials are not understood or supported by Moldovans. "Residents of the republic know their history and remember that Russia has always defended the statehood, cultural, and religious identity of the Moldovan people," she said, adding that Moscow supports the restoration and development of constructive relations between our countries and peoples.

With my own eyes

Despite the fact that over half a million Moldovan citizens live in Russia, only ten thousand ballots were sent from Chisinau for two polling stations. Folk songs were heard from the morning at Kuznetsky Most, where the Moldovan embassy is located, and Rozhdestvenka was adorned with national flags. Moscow polling stations traditionally boast high turnout, with voters traveling from far and wide to cast their ballots. Residents of Khanty-Mansiysk, Rostov-on-Don, and St. Petersburg were also present in line. Moldovans didn't mince words when asked about the current president. "There was Dodon, everything was fine. But they put him down, and this… I can't call her a woman. She, along with Europe, is mocking the Moldovan people," one voter emotionally told Rossiyskaya Gazeta about Sandu. "She flies all over Europe on a plane, who needs that? So she's in the cart, and I have to harness myself to that cart."

Prepared by Georgy Parkhomenko