Correspondence from Chisinau: War of polling stations in the Republic of Moldova, where if you sell your vote on September 28 “you and the other world”

“Do not play with the vote, because you will lose everything.” Wherever you are in Chisinau, you can not get rid of this message, meant to convince Moldovan citizens that it is not worth the risk of taking money from the games, to the September 28 elections. You hear it on the radio, you see it on the Internet or when you open the TV.

• A Hotnews team is located in Chisinau these days, where he will report the events related to the parliamentary elections on September 28.

The electoral anti-corruption spots in the Republic of Moldova are adapted to different social categories. In one of the clips, you are told that “only the pig is satisfied with what is put in the trojan”, people have to make choices.

In another video, an old woman confesses to the priest, in the church, that “unclean” pushes her to vote a party for money. He tells him to refuse because “Judas didn't even get away after taking 30 silver.” “You will receive a fine of stinging on the other world,” says the priest in that video.

1,640 euros fine for taking 50 euros electoral bribe

The statement is not far from the truth: 32,000 Moldovan lei, that is, around 1,640 euros, was the fine received by those who were left by the ilan Șor in last year's presidential elections. Then, the authorities of the Republic of Moldova documented a huge scheme through which over 130,000 citizens received money from Russia, to vote against European integration at the referendum and for the candidates of Maia Sandu to Presidential.

“Many have scared these fines. I know cases of old people who received money before the elections and then woke up with the police at the door. Their children, who work abroad, paid their fines and told them to never accept something.

For this reason, now we expect the number of those who could receive bribe to be much smaller. The state force institutions say that there will be no more than 20,000 ”, explains, at a cafe in the center of Chisinau, one of the officials of the ruling party, step.

We are in the capital of the Republic of Moldova and we try to decipher these elections with the help of politicians, both from power and opposition, but also of people in civil society. All discussions are informal, because the atmosphere is so tense these days that people are as cautious in public statements.

Russia's money also arrived in the diaspora

The official in the party in power says that, unlike other years, Russia's money has also reached Moldovans outside the country. The police have discovered electoral corruption schemes in which citizens from abroad are promised amounts from 500 euros up to vote with the Socialists.

From the data from the other election tours, the vote of the Moldovans in the diaspora represents about 15% of the total. For example, at the second round of the presidential elections, a record number of voters from abroad, 328,000, was presented. So it matters a lot what these people will do on Sunday, September 28th.

Socialists accuse too few polling stations for Transnistrian

On the other hand, the Socialists – who according to the surveys are shoulder to the shoulder with the Proeuropeni from the step – have many things to reproach the Government Party regarding the organization of the elections.

The socialists participate in these elections within the “Patriotic” political block, together with the communists of Vladimir Voronin and the “Viitorul Moldovei” Party. Another formation that was part of the Alliance, that of the former Gagauzia, Irina Vlah, was excluded from the elections, two days ago, under the charge of illegal funded.

Also in a cafe, but from another sector of Chisinau, we meet a deputy from the PSRM lists. He accuses the fact that the people in Transnistria remained with only 12 polling stations, out of 41 as they existed in the parliamentary elections of 2021.

Because the separatist authorities do not organize polling stations in the region, the inhabitants who want to vote for the parliamentary elections in the Republic of Moldova must pass the Dniester to exercise their right in the localities under the control of Chisinau.

Moreover, for these parliamentary elections, two of the sections were moved 15 kilometers further from the administrative line separating the Republic of Moldova from Transnistria.

“We talked to people there who say they feel abandoned. They feel that in Chisinau the equal sign between the ordinary inhabitants of the region and the self -proclaimed authorities from Tiraspol are placed in Chisinau,” says the socialist deputy.

The representative of the opposition also told us that 7 bridges over the Dniester have been repaired exactly now, when the elections are. A maneuver by which the people on the left of the river are prevented from reaching the polling stations, the socialist is convinced, who expects to receive much more votes than step from the Russian region.

Transnistrian came to vote with buses

However, the representative of the power with which I spoke, however, explains that the reason why the number of sections for Transnistrian was reduced from 41 to 12 is exactly the discouragement of the electoral fraud.

“The decision was taken by the CEC (no-the central electoral commission), which received information from the secret services that there are people with the coaches to vote. The CEC wanted to discourage electoral fraud,” the PAS representative told us.

As for bridges over the Dniester, he says that some are in repair, but “this does not mean that normal traffic, from one bank to the other, is not possible.”

However, the number of Transnistren who vote in the Moldovan elections is quite small. In 2021, in the parliamentary, there were 30,000 voters, and in 2024, at the presidential, there were around 15,000, in the first round. 25% of them voted with Maia Sandu, perhaps surprising for many, and 35% with Alexander Stoianoglo.

But the Socialists also have other dissatisfaction: the correspondence vote for the Moldovans in the Diaspora is allowed only in a few countries in the European Union, not for those in Russia, where there are only two polling stations, in Moscow, for 300,000 citizens. In reply, the representative of power says that there are very few Moldovans who vote by correspondence (1,300 at last year's presidential), and this vote is the easiest to follow to prevent fraud.

The polls show a fight between four formations for entering the Parliament: the pro-European PAS Party, the alliance led by the Socialists (Considered Pro-Ruşi), our party of Renato Usatîi and the “Alternative” block, of which the mayor of Chisinau is part. The interlocutors with whom I have spoken are suspicioned by the last period, which shows that over 30% of those interviewed do not answer the question with whom they will vote on Sunday. This means that it is not known what a large number of people will do.

The presence at the vote will also be an element that will weigh a lot in the final result. Especially the one from Chisinau, where one third of the inhabitants of the country live.

“I noticed that, on Friday, instead of making many cars in the city, as it happens at the weekend, now there were many. I have not seen such a thing,” says a taxi driver, who believes that his observation is a proof that the massive vote will be voted on Sunday. It remains to see if the intuition of man will prove correct.

We will return to the following correspondences.