Russian interference?
Cyber attack overshadows election in Moldova
Two weeks ago, the pro-European course of the former Soviet republic of Moldova was confirmed by a wafer-thin majority in a referendum. Now the EU-friendly President Maia Sandu is fighting to continue her course in a run-off election. As two weeks ago, there are also reports of Russian manipulation and intervention. On Sunday, the Central Election Commission fell victim to a cyberattack. There were bomb threats against foreign polling stations.
The head of the electoral authority, Angelica Caraman, announced at a press conference on Sunday afternoon that it was a DoS (denial of service) attack, whereby the functionality of the system was temporarily impaired. De facto, this meant that voters could be registered at polling stations more slowly than usual. The system has since been restored to full functionality and the voting process itself was not interrupted at any time, said Caraman.
The National Security Advisor accused Russia of massive interference. The election interference posed a great risk of distorting the result, Stanislav Secrieru announced on the X platform. The authorities are alarmed. In the Transnistria region, which has broken away from Moldova and where Russian troops are stationed, there are organized voter transports to the polls; this is illegal, he said according to dpa.
Voter turnout increases
The polling stations closed at 9 pm (8 pm CET). The turnout was far higher than two weeks ago: By 12 noon local time, 25 percent of Moldovan voters had already cast their ballots, according to the electoral commission - in the first round of voting, the figure had been around ten percent lower at this time.
On leaving a polling station in the capital Chisinau, 52-year-old Sandu said that she had "voted for Moldova" - she trusted that the citizens knew "what was best for the country". Although "thieves wanted to buy our votes and our country", "the power of the people is ultimately far greater".
Head of government: "Attack on democracy will be prevented"
Head of government Dorin Recean announced that all authorities responsible for security and order - the Ministry of the Interior, state security and the police - are currently "working at full speed to prevent an attack on our democracy". All polling stations in the country are guarded and citizens can cast their votes without worry. Recean's statement came after both independent journalists and countless Moldovan voters had received death threats in recent days if they did not vote for the pro-Russian candidate.
In addition, there is currently an investigation into massive vote-buying in the first round of the presidential race - at least 300,000 Moldovan voters are said to have been bribed by the network of controversial pro-Russian politician Ilan Shor to vote for the candidate loyal to Moscow, former prosecutor Alexandr Stoianoglo. He is fighting against further rapprochement between his country and the EU and is supported by the Russia-friendly Socialist Party.
Very close result expected
In purely mathematical terms, it is likely to be close for Sandu this time - the votes cast for the pro-European candidates in the first round two weeks ago totaled 47.5 percent, while the pro-Russian camp received a total of 53.5 percent. According to the results of a recent poll conducted by the opinion research institute iData, Stoianoglo is also likely to win the most votes in the run-off in Germany. In the end, however, he would still lose because the expatriate population will vote massively for Sandu. The iData pollsters expect a very close result - around 52% for the incumbent and around 48% for the pro-Russian challenger.
Bomb threats in Germany, the UK and Romania
Unknown perpetrators were apparently targeting voters living abroad when they launched bomb threats against several polling stations abroad. As the Foreign Office in Chisinau announced in the early evening, one polling station each in Frankfurt am Main, Liverpool and Northampton as well as two polling stations in the Romanian capital Bucharest were the target of threats. While the British police had the polling stations temporarily evacuated, the voting process in Frankfurt and Bucharest was not interrupted.
The Moldovan authorities had already informed several European governments the day before about the possibility of false bomb threats. In addition, Moldovan law enforcement officers had to temporarily block traffic over the bridge near Ribnita-Rezina to Transnistria in the afternoon after the police received a call that the bridge had been mined. According to the Moldovan Foreign Office, all cases were obviously attempts to interrupt the election process as often and for as long as possible.
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