Expert: There Was Another Intervention in the Moldovan Elections

Yesterday's visit by the US Ambassador to the CEC seems to have put an end to the main act of the long-running crisis around the foreign polling stations When the CEC first announced its decision not to increase the number of polling stations abroad, it got immediately clear that the case can evolve into a huge scandal. Therefore, there was nothing surprising that the polling stations saga was not about to end even after nearly three weeks. Each of the parties in this matter has its own truth. It is logical that the MFAEI proposed to sharply increase the number of foreign polling stations, building on the experience of the last presidential elections. Though, however, it previously grew in arithmetic, not geometric progression. The CEC's position also  seems well-grounded since it justly appealed to legal and financial arguments. This situation widely resonated also due to the distrustful attitude in the broad strata of our society to the diaspora's voting. It is widely believed that, first of all, only those who live in Moldova should participate in the national elections, since only they will reap the benefits. And citizens who are abroad should vote in the official diplomatic institutions of the republic, as is the case in almost any other state. In addition, many remember that this topic was not initially based on a special concern for the electoral rights of our migrants. The latter were expected to give their votes for proper (read: pro-Western) parties, and they met those expectations quite successfully. And now, with the 2019 parliamentary elections  and the 2020 presidential elections behind him, the diaspora's participation in local electoral processes has proved to offer clear advantages. That is why the CEC's initial decision not to open more polling stations caused real hysteria in the pro-Western camp. The DA platform and AUR hoped to overcome the electoral threshold at the expense of the diaspora's votes, while PAS dreams of a parliamentary majority, even without making an attempt to bargain with other parties. That is why this whole situation with polling stations is so nervous, since it affects interests and hopes of both the election participants themselves and the external players behind them. The court proceedings on this issue were seemingly finalized by the decision of the Supreme Court of Justice, which obliged the CEC to open 191 polling stations initially proposed by the MFAEI. However, there are legal subtleties in this regard. Key among them is one of the Election Code provisions which is now being blatantly violated. It says that the formation of polling stations takes place no later than 35 days before the date of voting. That is, all these maneuvers, in principle, should no longer matter, since they contradict the letter of the law. But it has long been known that the major measure of legitimacy in this country is not its legislation, but the opinion of our foreign partners. Yesterday, a representative of the most high-status of them, who had realized that without an “outside kick” everything would go downhill again, decided to personally “run the show” and get the situation out of the downward trajectory. US Ambassador Dereck Hogan visited the Commission the day before the planned consultations between the CEC and the MFAEI over the ill-fated polling places. The American diplomat is actually very active in this election campaign, constantly paying calls on its key participants, authorities and the judiciary, and even the CEC, and more than once. Symbolically that this encounter between Hogan and the Commission members took place the very day when the country celebrates anniversary of signing of the declaration of sovereignty. In general, such visits are no longer surprising at all, although, as ex-Prime Minister Ion Chicu aptly noted, it is difficult to imagine that the CEC or the Prosecutor General's Office could become a place of work for foreign diplomats in any other country. Even the official press release indicated that "special attention" at the meeting was paid to foreign polling stations, as well as the voting of the Transdniestrian electorate, including steps to prevent their organized transportation. Even without this message, it was not difficult to imagine what goals the US ambassador pursued during his communication with the CEC leadership. First, to exclude any radical decisions, because appropriate conditions were created. According to the rumors, the Commission was looking into the possibility of not opening voting places at all - since, as I have already noted, this can no longer be done according to the law. There was also an option for the majority of its members to resign, which could actually block the holding of elections. As we can see from the further course of events, all these risks were successfully eliminated. Moreover, the CEC eventually even increased the number of polling stations up to 150 by adding four more - certainly, in the western direction. The rightists were still dissatisfied, but in principle, such a number, which in theory allows almost a million of our citizens to vote abroad, should fully meet their needs. So far, we cannot be sure that all this mess has finally completed and that we won't witness further bargaining and adjustments in the coming days. However, the American ambassador's instructive visit has likely averted the most dire scenarios for the right-wing parties and saved the precious vote of the diaspora. As you can see, many, especially those who consider themselves to be "statists", were baffled by yesterday's ambassadorial visit to the Central Executive Committee and were forced to reflect again on whether the republic's sovereignty is real or ephemeral. However, since there is no official reaction from Chisinau, we can conclude that the situation when a representative of a foreign state can manually moderate the pre-election processes in Moldova is quite acceptable.