Moldova President Alleges Vote-buying Tainted EU Referendum Results

Moldovan President Maia Sandu denounced an “assault on democracy and freedom” as she said criminal groups had bought Moldovan citizens’ votes prior to the EU referendum on Sunday.

Sandu claims that “criminal entities” had the goal of buying 300,000 votes and that “the state institutions documented 150,000 people being paid to vote,” as the justice system failed to do enough to prevent vote theft and corruption.

The Moldovan leader blamed this vote-buying as the main reason for the referendum result: despite being a formal victory, the outcome is quite disappointing for the pro-EU camp, as less than 51% of citizens voted to enshrine EU accession in the Moldovan constitution. At the end of the counting, under 14,000 votes separated the two camps.

“There are people who genuinely do not understand what the EU is about and what this is going to bring to Moldova. And then there are people who just sold their votes,” said Sandu during a packed press conference in Chișinău on Monday.

“In any democracy, it’s normal to have people who have different views. What’s not normal is to have a situation where criminal groups are bribing voters”.

Sandu, who did not point fingers at any specific actor, only spoke of “dirty interference” trying to block Moldova’s path towards EU membership.

Despite her claims, sources in Moldovan government told Euronews that the presidency cannot find itself evidence of electoral corruption, but has to rely on the police services and other institutions.

‘Unprecedented interference’

At the moment, investigations are ongoing on the network of Moldovan fugitive convicted oligarch Ilan Shor, who is under EU sanctions for attempts to destabilise Moldova.

“The persons affiliated with the criminal organization led by Shor were instructed to recruit people to participate in the electoral ballot for sums of money and to be notified on the eve of the elections through the groups on Telegram regarding the candidate to be voted for, as well as to vote with the option “no” in the referendum”, Moldovan police press release on 3 October said.

The OSCE’s international election observation mission did not report any evidence of vote theft and corruption at the polling station. Its preliminary conclusions, however, underline various forms of manipulative interference to destabilize the country, like illicit financing of political actors, disinformation campaigns, and cyberattacks.

Michael Gahler, a German MEP from the EPP and member of the mission, considers that “the referendum result is only to be explained because of this massive interference,” pointing the finger at Russia.

“We are not an investigative body. But what is in the public domain, and admitted from these structures, has to be given as a fact, I think. And there have also been multifold statements from simple citizens who said: ‘Well, quick money for poor people? That is something that I take”, he said in an interview with Euronews.

The European Commission also said it had witnessed “unprecedented interference” by Russia in Moldova. 

For Thijs Reuten, a Dutch MEP who was also part of the OCSE mission, this kind of interference typically does not happen at the polling station on election day, and it can be exercised in different ways.

“There has been an investigation in the weeks and months before the election that has uncovered substantial amounts of money being moved, not illegally, every day on many occasions from Russia to Moldova.”

Beyond this relevant but still legitimate interference, there could be room for the vote-buying system.

“Some journalists went undercover in the networks that was distributing money to voters in order to to use their vote or change their vote upon request of Russian actors and their allies,” Reuten told Euronews.

A recent BBC report claims it showed Moldovan citizens from the Moscow-friendly breakaway region of Transnistria selling their votes.

“Even if it was only half of that, only 150,000 people approached and maybe got some money in exchange for their vote, then it’s mounting up to one-tenth of the total votes cast. And that is a lot.”

“I think Maia Sandu is right to be worried about this,” said Reuten, “because voices are circulating about 300,000 people possibly involved in vote buying.”