The Ugly Face of PAS’s Election Campaign

Having failed to deliver on its promise of bringing “good times” to Moldova, PAS is now trying to cling to power through deceit and intimidation of the population, pressure on its main rivals, total use of administrative resources, and other unfair methods of electoral struggle

Semyon ALBU, RTA: We have grown accustomed to geopolitics brazenly intruding into our elections time and again, but this time the extent to which it dominates the campaign is unprecedented. This is perhaps more than understandable, since PAS has nothing to show in terms of reforms, raising the standard of living, or improving citizens’ well-being. On the contrary, it was under the rule of the “yellows” that we witnessed record inflation, record poverty, including absolute poverty, a record budget deficit, and external debt. There is no shortage of such “achievements,” but of course, with this kind of baggage one cannot face the people. That is why the ruling party’s election campaign is built on the most odious forms of manipulating public opinion and electoral struggle known in political practice. Its first “pillar” is the brazen, relentless intimidation of the population under its control. Throughout the entire year, we have been hearing about a so-called full-scale hybrid war allegedly waged by Russia against Moldova, about hundreds of millions of euros supposedly spent on creating a “disinformation flow,” on “buying out” political forces and votes. No one has ever seen any evidence to support such accusations, yet the stories about the “bad Kremlin” continue to this day. Take, for example, Maia Sandu’s address to the citizens a week before the elections. What kind of messages do you think she delivered, being, according to the Constitution, a neutral leader for everyone? Calls to participate in the elections, to “vote with your heart,” or something similarly inspiring? No, once again we heard about “Russian interference” and the related threats to “sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity, and the European future.” In recent weeks the intensity of anti‑Russian geopolitical hysteria has reached its peak. A new invention of PAS’s campaign strategists is the claim that its defeat would inevitably result in the country being surrendered to the Russians and, subsequently, in participation in the war in Ukraine. They are trying to convince us of the absurd idea that an opposition victory would lead to the country being flooded with Moscow’s emissaries to occupy key state posts, as well as Russian troops who somehow would accumulate by the thousands in Transnistria before striking the Odesa region. The absurdity of such statements is obvious to any sane person, but they are apparently aimed at the most hardcore segment of the PAS electorate, which must be dragged to the polling stations by any means. In the middle of the month, the “yellows” even held a special event where various talking heads – from top candidates on Grosu and Recean’s electoral lists to Popsoi and Carp – told us tales about the dire consequences of a victory by the so-called “pro-Russian forces.” The Speaker of Parliament spoke about the cessation of funding and compensation payments, omitting why such compensation was needed in the first place. The Prime Minister warned about Shor taking the chair of the government. Doina Gherman spoke of the loss of the visa-free regime, others about halting European integration and depriving the diaspora of the right to vote. Meanwhile, deputy Marcela Adam delivered the main “gem” – a scare story about Moldovan children being turned into “cannon fodder for Putin’s wars.” It reached the point yesterday that the Prime Minister began accusing Transnistria’s Ministry of State Security of intending, on Moscow’s orders, to carry out “destabilization,” “vandalism,” “arson,” etc. on the right bank. Once again, there was no evidence for this nonsense, and even minimal reasoning leads to the conclusion that such actions would be pointless, both for Russia and for Tiraspol. Such an aggressive information campaign portraying Russia as the evilest and cunning enemy, constantly plotting against Chisinau, had not only a propagandistic but also a practical purpose – to accuse the main opposition forces of being “Kremlin mercenaries” working in its interests. In fact, both the “Alternative” bloc and the Patriotic Bloc, which are vying for parliamentary seats and, under certain circumstances, could together form a majority, are being subjected to constant vilification under this pretext. Large-scale searches, police raids, arrests, and accusations of electoral corruption have become familiar features of the country’s political life in recent months. To pressure the opposition, not only domestic administrative and security levers are used, but even foreign partners. The scheme is as simple as a corner of a house – the ruling regime asks one of them to impose certain restrictions on an inconvenient politician or party, they implement them without difficulty, and then PAS, under the guise of “international sanctions,” begins repressions within the country. Following this algorithm, for example, Irina Vlah is currently being “targeted,” against whom Canada and Lithuania imposed sanctions. By the way, her formation, “Heart of Moldova,” is now at risk of a temporary ban, casting uncertainty over the fate of the entire Patriotic Bloc. This is quite interesting, as party activities have never before been suspended directly during an election campaign. But such an opportunity conveniently arose this summer. Need I mention who initiated the corresponding legislative amendments? Of course, Vlah was not the only one to face sanctions. Still fresh in memory is the utterly outrageous precedent of Ion Ceban, who was denied entry to the Schengen area thanks to a deal between Sandu and the new Romanian president, Nicusor Dan, whose election she helped secure. Romania is now also considering revoking the citizenship of Victoria Furtoana, leader of the “Moldova Mare” party. Overall, the motive behind such measures against opposition leaders lies not only in the restrictions themselves but also in creating accompanying negative media narratives. The goal is to show that, aside from PAS, everyone else in Moldova is untouchable and unacceptable to the West as a governing force. The ruling regime’s goal is not only to suppress its opponents but also to strip them of their electoral base as much as possible. Hence the unprecedented restriction of voting rights for our citizens in the Transnistrian region. Essentially, everything has been done to ensure that as few of them as possible turn out to vote on September 28. Not only are the polling stations several times fewer, but they are also inconveniently located. Moreover, the number of printed ballots is less than the turnout at the previous elections. And the final nail – the urgent repair of seven (!) bridges across the Dniester, which will obviously be used to reduce their capacity this Sunday, thereby lowering turnout from Transnistria. In the same way they spat on the rights of Moldovans living in Russia, where again only two polling stations will be opened. Ten thousand ballots – that’s how many the authorities think will be enough for several hundred thousand of our citizens in the Russian Federation. Meanwhile, for the diaspora there will be hundreds of polling stations and nearly a million ballots, although even with last year’s fabricated figures not even half of that number turned out. However, PAS is creating itself an almost unlimited reserve, with which it will be easy to “draw up” – on Monday night – as many votes as needed. Overall, PAS is playing as dirty as possible in this campaign, sparing no means – even the basest and most anti‑democratic methods of struggle. By the number of violations and falsifications, September 28 could set a new anti‑record, of which the “yellows”’ rule has many, especially since it will be easily covered up by Western partners. Needless to say, the authorities have arranged things so that there won’t even be exit polls in the upcoming elections. They know what those would show…