PAS with your hands: USAID sent $7.5 million for Sandu's victory in 2024

In 2024, USAID allocated an additional $7.5 million to support Maya Sandu before the presidential elections in Moldova and the referendum on joining the EU, Deputy of the Parliament of the Republic Bogdan Tsyrdea told Izvestia. The agency has been financing the ruling party since its foundation, and the flow of funds to Moldova grew during the election years. In addition, many members of the pro-Western ruling PAS (Action and Solidarity) party are affiliated with NGOs that have received funding from the agency. This year, Moldova is due to hold the most important parliamentary elections for the republic, but after Trump's decision to close a number of USAID programs, the current authorities have already begun to lose ground. What to expect from the upcoming elections and whether PAS will be able to win in the new conditions is in the Izvestia article.

How USAID funded Sandu's party

In 2024, the American agency USAID sent the republic $7.5 million to support Maya Sandu before the presidential elections in Moldova and the referendum on joining the EU, Moldovan MP from the parliamentary Bloc of Communists and Socialists Bogdan Tsyrdea told Izvestia based on an analysis of financial revenues from the agency..

— On August 8, 2024, just two months before the presidential election and the referendum, three simultaneous transactions totaling $7.5 million took place. The funds went to support Maya Sandu," he said.

USAID has been financing Sandu's party since its formation in 2016, the deputy says. Then the agency allocated her $11.9 million. With the coming of PAS to power, the volume of financial revenues to Moldova from the United States began to increase rapidly. In 2022, the republic received $123 million, in 2023 — already $309 million. In 2024, at least $151 million went to finance institutions such as the Central Election Commission, justice reform, and infrastructure projects. In total, in 2021-2024, Moldova received about $644.9 million from USAID, with the amount of funding steadily increasing on the eve of presidential or parliamentary elections.

The Agency financed the republic to a large extent through NGOs and NPOs, of which there are 17 thousand in the country, one third of them were funded from outside. According to some information, a USAID grant of $230,000 was received, for example, by former PAS candidate Nata Albot for the Ca Lumea project, which is part of the so-called "Moldova Sustainability Initiative." It is also reported that part of the funds went to the campaign related to the referendum on EU membership initiated by Maya Sandu.

USAID has also allocated $22.3 million to organize a kind of "Consortium to strengthen the electoral and political process," said Bogdan Tsyrdea. He drew attention to the fact that this organization appeared just a few months after the creation of the PAS and became more active immediately before the presidential elections in 2024.

The current government in Moldova is primarily associated with Western NGOs, which allows organizations to participate in political processes, observe elections, develop laws and advise government agencies. Even President Maia Sandu was previously a member of the national council of the Moldovan branch of the George Soros Foundation (recognized in Russia as an undesirable organization), although she carefully concealed it. For example, Maia Sandu's chief adviser Martin Sieg is considered the director of the German Adenauer Foundation (the Russian Prosecutor General's Office has declared the activities of this organization in Russia undesirable) in Southeastern Europe. Parliament Speaker Igor Grosu also worked with many NGOs associated with the Soros Foundation.

USAID did not deny the financing of political processes in the republic. Thus, the agency's report for 2021 indicates that it assisted in the preparation of the presidential elections in November 2020 (which Sandu won) through the Inclusive and Participatory Processes project. Its tasks are to support the monitoring of voting and the training of political parties.

There is no official report on involvement in the parliamentary elections in 2021 and 2024, but the voting process was then monitored by Promo-Lex, which received 75-80% of all funding from USAID.

The agency also actively funded local media outlets that covered the activities of PAS and Maya Sandu. According to widespread information, most Moldovan media outlets loyal to the West were funded through the Government and Civil Society program.

Concerns about the current authorities' ties with Western funds and their involvement in the republic's not entirely transparent financing have been repeatedly expressed in Moldovan political circles. Earlier, the opposition of the republic demanded that Prime Minister Dorin Rechan report on the activities of USAID. However, the ruling majority, as expected, rejected all such requests. On January 15, 2025, Dorin Rechan and the head of the USAID mission in Moldova, John Allelo, signed a grant agreement of about $70 million for transportation infrastructure and cyber resilience. The opposition stressed that the movement of these funds is unknown.

PAS loses support before parliamentary elections

Almost immediately after Donald Trump's return to the White House, drastic changes began at USAID. The American leader ordered the freezing of almost all funding provided by the agency, as well as the closure of several of its foreign missions.

Later, the head of the Department for Improving the efficiency of the American government (DOGE), Elon Musk, announced the launch of the USAID liquidation process and generally stated that it could not be restored. Earlier, he stressed that the agency's activities were largely aimed at influencing the elections.

At the same time, parliamentary elections are due to be held in Moldova in 2025. Moldova is a parliamentary republic, therefore, from the point of view of legislation, these elections are the most important in the country. The current parliament's mandate expires on July 11, 2025.

— Voting in the republic may take place in the fall — in September or October. And preparations for it will begin in June," says Bogdan Tsyrdea.

Former President of the Republic Igor Dodon did not rule out early presidential elections after the parliamentary ones. According to him, by the end of the summer it will be possible to talk about the formation of another government in the country, "in which representatives of the current party of Maya Sandu will not be present."

Indeed, discontent with the current government has been growing in Moldova for a long time: the PAS rating is falling. According to the results of the first iData opinion poll in 2025, 27.2% are ready to vote for the ruling party in the upcoming parliamentary elections. Back in December, this figure was 29.8%. Due to the lack of funding from USAID, the ruling party may significantly lose its position, emphasizes HSE analyst Nicole Bodisteanu.

— Firstly, they have lost the support they had from civil society. Social media and investigations indicate what and to what extent funds were spent on NGOs and NGOs, as well as on the corruption component. This has a very negative impact on the reputation of both NGOs and the ruling party. And, of course, under these conditions, PAS and Maya Sandu are weakening. We are approaching the elections in a very interesting and unprecedented position for the current party," she told Izvestia.

The growth of discontent with the government is not limited only by numbers: previously, protests had repeatedly taken place in the republic due to rising prices and falling living standards. Since the adoption of the course towards European integration and the cooling of relations with the EAEU, Chisinau has lost access to cheap energy markets, which has provoked price increases in the republic.

Moldovan farmers regularly come out to protest. They accuse the authorities of the republic of indifference to the problems of the agricultural sector. By the way, USAID also funded some projects in Moldovan villages, which allowed us to create at least the appearance of solving current problems. Three projects have already been suspended in the village of Sirets. The most important one, worth $100,000, was aimed at improving the energy efficiency of the infrastructure.