INTERVIEW. “The techniques of financing the pro-Russian parties are reconfirmed.” Hot reaction after the parliamentary elections in the Republic of Moldova / the mistake they make pro-European

“We expect multiple tactics to denigrate the electoral results, from protests, to challenge the results of the elections later,” says, in an interview for Hotnews, Clara Volintiru, director of the Black Sea Trust program, part of the German Marshall Fund.

• The Action and Solidarity Party (PAS) was leading, at midnight, with 45% of the votes, after the processing of 1938 minutes of 2274. It is the partial count, and the score could increase, given that the votes of the diaspora, where the step leads by 79%, have just started to be counted.

HotNews: Why were these choices so important?
Clara Volintiru: The attention for the political and geopolitical situation of Moldova has grown a lot in recent years. On the one hand, due to the brave struggle by which President Maia Sandu stabilized the country on the European trajectory in a difficult context. On the other hand, because we see that the war in Ukraine does not end, it does not have a predictable purpose. And the opening of a second front on Ukraine, from Moldova, from Transnistria is a very high risk of destabilizing the entire region in terms of security.

And for the third reason, the tactics that Russia is piloting, tests, in disturbances of democratic processes, not only electoral, but also of confidence in society, so large -scale destabilization. These tactics tested in Moldova are then applied in the countries of the European Union such as Romania, Germany and France. So for these three reasons, the political and geopolitical situation of Moldova is very important for us all.

And it can be seen that the electoral election now has the greatest voting presence of any parliamentary poll in the history of Moldova. The interest of Europeans is certain to a country that until recently they considered less important. So here's how, indeed, solidarity with Moldova and the situation of Moldova has grown a lot lately.

“What is reconfirmed are the financing techniques for pro-Russian parties”

– How do you interpret these preliminary results?
– For now, on the partial results, the party of President Maia Sandu is very good. Probably with the votes in the diaspora they will be able to achieve a majority.

What is reconfirmed are the techniques of financing the pro-Russian parties, both through client mechanisms for buying votes, as well as through social and online networks. We have, on the one hand, the pro-Russian block on the second place in Parliament. Less than we expected, but still the second place.

And we have the possibility to enter a hinged party, as it is said, of Coștiuc (the political party “Democracy at home” – n. Red.) Supported by gold from us in the country. With all the indications we have from Moldova, he had support from the fugitive ilan Șor oligarch, which is behind all the financing schemes of the pro-Russian candidates in recent years.

“European leaders have understood that they must also appeal to emotion”

– If we were to evaluate the support that the Republic of Moldova had from the European Union versus exactly these clientele movements of type Şor, plus the influence of Russia, about whom we could say that it “moved better”?
-Just as with Ukraine, transatlantic allies against Russia and its supporters, as well as in Moldova, are struggling, in the information and hybrid space, the pro-European government and administration led by Maia Sandu. It has transatlantic partners with the democratic processes, not to influence them.

During this time, Russia develops massive operations of influencing and destabilizing the country through the affective, emotional state of the population. They moved differently, so we can't compare who moved better. I think that, from a certain perspective, in recent months, European leaders have understood that they must also appeal to emotion, and to the feeling of dignity, national identity, trust in a future that will ensure prosperity and security, not only to now, but also future generations.

That is why the European leaders have been present in recent weeks with Maia Sandu, to also call emotional to the Moldovan electorate, to show solidarity towards the Republic of Moldova.

“What is missing and will have to be developed is an investment in societal resilience”

– What should the European leaders, but also our region, from today's poll?
– That financial support is not enough. Romania has supported from all points of view the Republic of Moldova, and diplomatic, and political, and economical, and in the security plan, but again, it is not sufficient.

What is missing and will need to be developed is an investment in societal resilience. This means to ensure the psyche and the state of confidence of the population towards international partnerships, the European trajectory and, again, their future and their children in a common security and prosperity. This trust must be regained, because, unfortunately, it has been worked on its erosion and will continue to work. We expect multiple tactics of denigrating the electoral results, from protests, to challenge the results of the elections later this night.

The destabilization operations in the Republic of Moldova are in full swing, will not end with the results of the elections and will continue on these key messages to encourage the lack of confidence from the population to the elected leaders and to the democratic system for representing the interests of the population.

“To reach citizens from all regions of Moldova”

– What can Maia Sandu do in this situation?
– to make a much better collaboration with local and regional leaders, to reach citizens from all regions of Moldova, which should not be very difficult, because the country is not so big. A territorial presence of the leaders much better than until now, is essential to rebuild a reliable relationship with regions that have been much stronger in the networks funded by Șor.

– What is the main risk for the President of the Republic of Moldova?
This type of social destabilization, of challenging the democratic processes in the Republic of Moldova that I said before. I have heard many messages of the type “The elections were fraudulent”, “the power is centralized”, “the will and opinion of the population”, so an impression of authoritarianism are not respected.

Somehow the reaction of the population of Georgia, which fought for the integrity of the elections to a massive fraud from the government, and Russia often applied techniques to delegitimize the initiatives and messages of Europe and international partners has been reflected. Now we will probably assist in messages similar to the civil society in Georgia, only this time from the financially supported pro-Russian factions by Ilan Șor.

“A mistake that the pro-European elites make”

– What was the biggest mistake made by Maia Sandu and step before the elections?
-All the pro-European elites in the Black Sea region, whether we talk about Romania, or we are talking about Moldova, or we are talking about Georgia, have this deficit to connect to local communities, to local leaders through traditional party appliances, so those roots in society. PAS is frequently criticized that it is not present in the territories, especially in the Russian-speaking territories, and then here, it is an area that a more cooperative and reconciliator attitude could probably be more effective in counteracting the sympathy of many Russian-speaking citizens in the poorer territories of Moldova.

“There is more time in Brussels or Washington than in the border regions.”

– Where does this attitude of politicians come from?
-From prioritizing relations with international partners, that is, many times more time is happening in Brussels or Washington than in the poorer, more backward border regions, considering that, on the one hand, you can not easily recover that electorate, on the other, may take the party leaders or regional leaders. Unfortunately, I saw a deficit of electorate mobilization capacity in regions. There other parties moved much better in Moldova, as is the case in Romania.

So, I think a direct message and a much more sustained relationship with the remaining communities behind it is essential throughout Europe, not just at the level of Moldova.

Romania-Moldova-Ukraine trilateral

– What will things look like from the perspective of the relationship with Ukraine if Maia Sandu has the majority she needs?
– will greatly support the security situation of Ukraine, because since the war began, the Republic of Moldova, under the leadership of Maia Sandu, has taken all the necessary steps to ensure that there are no direct threats on Ukraine from Transnistria.

Moreover, from a political point of view, there is a very good collaboration, not only between Moldova and Ukraine, but the Romania-Moldova-Ukraine trilateral, under the administration of President Nicușor Dan, is a priority of foreign policy and security policy. It is very clear the message of President Nicușor Dan that Romania's security is directly related to regional security and then this alignment and very good cooperation between the presidents of the neighboring countries will provide a common front and a much better counter -offensive capacity. to the Russian military or hybrid threats.