To sway the result, the Kremlin will stop at nothing — even spending hundreds of millions of euros to buy crucial votes, Sandu warned this week.
This is a crucial moment for Moldova, more so than at any point in the last 35 years since gaining independence from the Soviet Union, Nicu Popescu, a former foreign minister now running on the PAS list, told POLITICO.
“What is at stake is not just European integration of Moldova. It’s, to a large degree, the freedom of Moldova and its independence,” he said.
Isolated PAS
Since Sandu and her party rode a wave of optimism to secure decisive victories in 2020 and 2021, support has eroded, largely due to the adverse economic impact from Russia’s war in Ukraine, then fueled by Moscow’s relentless disinformation campaigns.
“Of course, there’s always a gap between expectations and delivery. Moldova has the same frustrations as elsewhere — inflation, purchasing power, energy costs,” Popescu said.
PAS has also failed to deliver on its anti-corruption and justice-reform promises, and struggled to connect with voters, said Valeriu Pașa, head of the Moldova-based WatchDog.MD think tank. “PAS’s biggest enemy right now is PAS,” he said, “because they’re making all possible mistakes.”