Borderline state: "Action and Solidarity" won over half of the votes

Parliamentary elections were held in Moldova on September 28. 15 political parties, four electoral blocs and four independent candidates took part in them. Moldova's opposition parties, including the Patriotic Bloc Alliance, scored 49.54% of the vote. To enter parliament, an electoral bloc must receive at least 7% support, a party - 5%, and an independent candidate — 2%. Details can be found in the Izvestia article.

Elections in Moldova: results

Parliamentary elections in Moldova started on Sunday, September 28, and lasted until 21:00 local time (coincides with Moscow time).

The Patriotic Bloc Alliance won 24.19% of the vote in the parliamentary elections after processing all the protocols. This follows from the calculations published on the website of the Central Election Commission (CEC) on September 29. It is specified that according to the results of processing 100% of the protocols, the ruling Action and Solidarity Party (PAS) is gaining 50.16%.

According to information released by the Central Election Commission, following the results of the voting, five political associations were able to enter the Parliament of Moldova within the framework of the current proportional system of distribution of mandates.

The ruling party of Moldova loses ten seats in parliament, the opposition will receive 48 out of 101 seats.

On the night of September 28-29, supporters of the "Patriotic Bloc" gathered at the building of the Central Election Commission in Chisinau.

"We intend to defend our votes. According to the data at 23:00, the ruling party was losing to the opposition," said Igor Dodon, the former president of the country and one of the leaders of the association.

He said that on Monday at noon, activists and representatives of the bloc will hold a mass rally at the CEC to declare their victory and demand a transparent vote count. Former Prime Minister Vasily Tarlev also took part in the event.

A total of 301 polling stations were opened in different countries for citizens to vote abroad. The number of Moldovan citizens living in the territory of the Russian Federation who were able to vote at polling stations in Russia was at least 4.1 thousand people, but there were significantly more people willing to cast their vote.

The political scientist predicted an early change of power in Moldova

Difficulties in voting for residents of the PMR

According to the Moldovan Central Election Commission, only about 12 thousand citizens from Transnistria were able to participate in the voting.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PMR stated that the Moldovan authorities deliberately created obstacles both at the polling stations and on the way to them. They clarified that there were deliberate congestion on the bridges connecting the territories, as well as mass inspections.

A statement published on the department's Telegram channel notes that starting in the afternoon, there was a shortage of ballots at polling stations. At the same time, cases of telephone terrorism began to be recorded. The callers claimed that the polling stations were allegedly booby-trapped, which is why three polling stations were closed.

"The totality of these circumstances <...> allows us to confidently assert Chisinau's purposeful policy aimed at preventing PMR citizens from participating in elections in a neighboring state," the text concluded.

On September 28, French journalist Boris Mabillard, in an interview with Izvestia, also pointed out the difficulties experienced by residents of Transnistria during voting. He noted the need to protect democracy and stressed the importance of providing all citizens with the opportunity to cast their votes in the elections.

Former President of Moldova, leader of the Party of Socialists Igor Dodon called the organization of elections in Moldova lawless. According to him, cases of vote collection were noticed during the voting process.

Evening of changes: the opposition gained about 49% in the parliamentary elections in Moldova

If fraud is detected by the authorities, the country will face large-scale protests.

How did the election campaign go?

The election campaign in Moldova took place under unprecedented pressure on opposition forces. Already on September 18, the police, together with other law enforcement agencies, conducted about a hundred searches in the framework of the electoral corruption case.

The main center of investigative actions was the city of Balti, located in the north of the country. On the eve of September 17, about 70 searches took place in Chisinau, and the day before, another large-scale raid related to the case of illegal party financing took place in the capital.

Law enforcement agencies traditionally accompanied information about such operations with the publication of videos, which, according to them, were supposed to confirm the guilt of individual activists. These videos showed unidentified people talking about the alleged transfer of money, showing footage with bundles of cash, and sometimes bank cards of Russian financial institutions. No specific names were given. The opposition parties insisted that such materials could not be considered evidence and were used only to create a negative information background.

On September 16, searches also took place in the offices of two opposition TV channels, Primul in Moldova and Canal 5. Previously, both media outlets had already been stripped of their broadcasting licenses, so by that time they were working only in online format. Representatives of Primul in Moldova stated that they had seized all their equipment, suspended filming, closed the studios and actually stopped the production of news and interviews.

The editorial office stressed that the actions of the authorities were not related to tax violations, but were an attempt to deprive the opposition of the opportunity to convey its position.

Interior Minister Daniella Misail-Nikitina reported that, in general, during the election campaign, the security forces conducted over 2,000 searches, as well as opened several criminal cases. The exact number of suspects and defendants in these trials was not announced, but it is known that well-known politicians were among the defendants. In particular, they were talking about two deputy mayors of Comrat, as well as former Member of Parliament Viorel Melnik.