Sunday election in Moldova was probably the most manipulated one I have ever seen. And no, that is not because of the alleged Russian interference the BBC is sputtering about:
Moldova’s pro-EU party wins vote mired in claims of Russian interference
The pro-European party of Moldovan President Maia Sandu has claimed victory and a new majority in parliament in Sunday’s elections seen as critical for her country’s future path to the EU.
Sandu had warned of “massive Russian interference” after voting, saying the future of Moldova, flanked by Ukraine and Romania, was at stake.
…
With 99.9% of the 1.6 million votes counted, PAS had 50.17% of the vote – far ahead of the pro-Russian Patriotic Electoral Bloc on 24.18%, Moldova’s central electoral commission said.
Moldova is, similar to Ukraine, a former Soviet state in which a large part of the population speaks Russian and follows the Orthodox Church. The pro-Russian sentiment is thereby naturally strong.
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As the Washington Post reported (archived) last Friday:
The departure of USAID had an immediate effect on Moldova’s fledgling democracy. Garcaliuc’s YouTube channel, called “The Small Country,” which produces content in Russian to reach audiences that don’t engage with Moldovan media, lost a large share of its funding almost overnight. So did other investigative websites and pro-democracy groups.
USAID had also funded many agricultural and infrastructural projects, including roads and schools.
The E.U. moved to fill the void left by the U.S.’s retreat by issuing media grants to Moldova and helping it track and combat disinformation. It sent delegations, including to pro-Russian areas, to counter rumors that it would force the Moldovans to change their culture in exchange for membership.
How come that such obvious interference is never called out?
Sandu herself used every possible trick to eliminate votes for the opposition.
Brian McDonald @27khv – 9:39 utc · Sep 29, 2025
So, Maia Sandu’s pro-EU PAS scraped 50.16% in Moldova’s election… a bare majority won only after banning at least six opposition parties, trimming Moscow-leaning Transnistria’s polling stations from 41 to 12 under the alibi of bridge repairs, and offering just two in Russia for up to half a million Moldovans, while 73 were opened in Italy for barely a hundred thousand.
A victory on paper, yes… but if the same things happened in Georgia or Serbia, Brussels would denounce such a vote as illegitimate.
For the West it seems to fine to manipulate elections as long as ‘our’ side wins.
