Moldovans vote in a tense election plagued by Russian interference claims • FRANCE 24 English

Moldovans vote in a tense election plagued by Russian interference claims • FRANCE 24 English

Our top story this hour, Muldoans are voting in parliamentary elections today that could have a major impact on the government’s quest to join the European Union. With pro-Russian groups seeking to steer the country away from closer ties with the EU block, many fear the impact of illegal meddling in this highly contested election. The mood has been tense as officials warned of outside actors attempting to interfere in the voting process. The country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said bomb threats had been made against polling stations abroad, including in Brussels, Rome in Genoa in Italy, Bucharest in Romania, Asheville in North Carolina, and Alecante in Spain. Let’s listen now to Muldovin President Maya Sandu. There is a lot at stake in this elections for our country. If Maldoans are strong enough and despite the massive interference of Russia will decide for themselves, Moldova will have the chance to continue to strengthen its democracy, to protect its peace, and to continue its EU integration path. To discuss this further, I’m joined on set by France 24’s international affairs editor, Philip Tur. Philip, welcome. Um, I want to begin by asking the big question. Why does Russia so desperately want to influence this election? I think the most important thing for Russia is to keep as many uh former member states of the Soviet Union under its control. And Maldov has had independence since the fall of the Soviet Union at the beginning of the 1990s and it’s moved steadily towards the European Union uh especially over the past few years and membership talks are well underway. Uh and it’s hoped by the people of Maltto that if everything goes according to plan they could become a member of the European Union by 2030 or along those lines. So uh there is hope from the ruling party that this could be the case. This is something that is an anathema for the Russians, especially the government of Vladimir Putin in Moscow. They want to pull MO Moldover more towards uh the Russians uh and make sure that it’s not going to become part of Europe. And there are other elements that are important to add on to this is that uh there is the war in Ukraine right now. And if Muldova were to become more aligned with Russia, that would be uh a place for Russia to build a base to the west of Ukraine to launch attacks into Ukraine from Muldoven territory. And it would also be a place where the Russians could launch more drone attacks, possible attacks anyway, and certainly drones flying into uh NATO states in Eastern Europe. Uh so it would be a considered a nuisance for uh the European Union if Russia were to be able to get hold of uh Muldova and to win these polls and it would be more under the control of Moscow which would be bad news for not only the Ukrainians and their war but also for the European Union. And um we’ve been talking a bit about the uh Russian interference in these elections. What type of meddling have they been carrying out and how successful do you think it will end up being? Well, that’s a question I think no one can answer right now, but certainly Russia has pulled all the stops out and uh to try to influence this election. Been uh claims that the Russians have spent up to uh €30 million euros on trying to influence this poll. uh one of their oligarchs uh who is well known for being part of this is Elan Shaw who has spent at least 136,000 euros according to investigations on trying to uh influence the election via messages on social media. But there have also been cyber attacks. There have also been uh been influence peddling within Muldova itself from these pro-Russian parties, these pro-Russian groups. And even a uh report on the Reuters news agency yesterday said that uh the Orthodox Church in Muldo has been uh taken basically to uh Russia uh members of the church shown around Orthodox churches in Russia and then given bank cards and sent money saying now you have to try to influence the outcome of this election as well. So all of these elements put together have severely shaken the Muldoven authorities, the pro- European authorities, and that means that the opinion polls right now are very, very tight. It’s impossible to see how this is going to turn out. Latest polls say 33.6% are for the uh pro-Uropean party of action and solidarity, which has been in the majority since 2021. 33.9% are voting pro-Russian and 25% of the Muldovens don’t know which way they’re going to vote. And there’s also another uh key question here that we can’t answer right now and that is what is the diaspora of Muldova going to vote. About 20% of the country lives overseas. They are potentially pro- European, but we still don’t know exactly how they’re going to vote in these elections. So everything is still open and everything can play for right now. I guess we’ll have to keep an eye out for when the polls close. Philip, thank you so much. Uh, that’s France 24’s international affairs editor, Philip Tur.

Moldovans on Sunday cast ballots in a tense parliamentary election plagued by claims of Russian interference, a vote seen as a choice between integration with the European Union or a drift back into Moscow’s fold. Analysis by FRANCE 24 international affaires editor Philip Turle.
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