"There are fears that the ruling party may not recognize the elections in Moldova"

The Moldovan authorities are staging provocations before the elections in order to reduce the chances of opposition parties, Bogdan Tsyrdea, a deputy of the Party of Socialists, told Izvestia. At the same time, Chisinau enjoys the support of the European Union: in Romania, citizens even began sending messages urging them to "keep the Eastern European country in Europe." The ruling circles in Chisinau may not recognize the elections if Maia Sandu's party does not gain the required number of mandates. If the ruling party wins, Moldova will continue its pro-Western path. About the intimidation of the local population, the arrest of Vladimir Plahotniuc and the likelihood of a repeat vote — in an exclusive interview with Bogdan Tsyrdi "Izvestia".

"The authorities have banned almost all polling companies from conducting surveys"

— Parliamentary elections will be held in Moldova on September 28. Tension between the opposition and the authorities has been growing for several months. What is the general situation in the republic?

— The situation is tense. Searches take place every day: deputies, bloggers, activists, and so on are arrested. We see all kinds of provocations by the ruling party. Yesterday, for example, they posted a video that allegedly hundreds of ballots had already been found, which were stamped with votes for the Alternative bloc. Then it turned out that it was fake and the ballots were fake.

Maia Sandu herself came to a briefing the other day and stated that Russia wants to rig the elections in Moldova, seize the republic in order to use our territory to attack Ukraine. And this is said not only by the president, but also by the Prime Minister. They throw horror stories in Chisinau because they have nothing to go to the polls with.

The authorities have refused exit polls, and in general it can be said that they intend to rig the elections. Moreover, yesterday they announced that a cyberattack had taken place on the servers of the Central Election Commission. Obviously, this seems to us to be a lie and makes us suspicious.

The authorities have also banned almost all polling companies from conducting surveys. iData seemed to want to conduct a new survey, but they were banned. This suggests that the authorities may carry out falsifications.

The campaign is extremely dirty and authoritarian, the opposition has practically no television, its own portals, and there is no way to even finance its campaign. Let's say that previously anyone could personally hand over a contribution to the party. Today, this can only be done through a bank card, which was done specifically to deprive the opposition of funding.

— And what kind of pressure do the representatives of your bloc face?

— The most dangerous thing for us is that the Ministry of Justice has gone to court to examine the activities of Irina Vlah's "Heart of Moldova" party, which is part of the Patriotic Bloc. We have a fear that they are trying to withdraw the party in order to hit the bloc and its chances, given that we are in the first positions today.

There is also a fear that Victoria Furtune's Moldova Mare party is also planning to be removed from the election race in order to clear out the entire left flank and the entire more or less strong opposition. The pro-European Alternative bloc is also under attack, which is taking away part of the electorate from the Action and Solidarity party.

The ruling party continues to push its central narrative that Russia is bribing votes and interfering in elections. Moreover, this is taking place against the background of the fact that European officials come to Moldova every day, the EU allocates money for hospitals right during the elections, which bribes the electorate.

In neighboring Romania, there is one party, the Union for the Salvation of Romania, which is already producing posters and sending SMS messages to citizens urging them to vote for Maia Sandu's party — that is, they openly interfere in the elections.

"The 2025 elections in Moldova cannot be called democratic and free"

Alexey Lungu, leader of the Chance party, talks about the persecution of opposition politicians, vote fraud in the elections, and Chisinau's cooperation with NATO

"Moldovan citizens are intimidated by the war"

— Earlier, the Patriotic Bloc announced its intention to protest immediately after the elections. How big can they be?

— There's not much one to protest right now. All opposition parties are afraid of unrest, because they understand that after that there will be arrests, fines, and so on.

Moldovan citizens are generally intimidated by the war, fines, loss of jobs, the fact that they will lose their property, and the initiation of criminal cases. Recently, 30 thousand citizens received fines of $2 thousand, which is an unbearable amount for people.

Today, the Patriotic Bloc held an action for fair elections. It is difficult for me to say how our rally will be held on the 29th. We need to look at what happens on election day.

There are concerns that if the ruling party gets less than 40 seats out of 101, it may not recognize the elections. Then there will be a repeat vote. Let me remind you that in neighboring Romania there was already such a scenario, they did not recognize the victory of Calin Georgescu, who opposed the war (against Romania's active participation in helping Ukraine. — Ed.), after which the elections were canceled.

Tearing up and dreaming: Sandu's party loses support a week before Moldovan elections

The current authorities are trying to create conditions for themselves to win and ensure the loyalty of citizens.

"A new infrastructure is being built, a railway according to NATO standards"

— The republic has been following the pro-European path for a long time. Can Moldova start negotiations on joining the European Union after the elections?

— Negotiations can begin, but I personally do not believe in the republic joining the union by 2028.

Cooperation with NATO is developing intensively. Moldova is arming itself, the country has increased military spending 4-5 times, introduced NATO standards, is building a military base near Chisinau, is modernizing a military training ground in Bulboak, and is building a military college. New infrastructure is also being built, as well as a railway according to NATO standards.

Cooperation will develop and strengthen if the ruling party wins. In general, there is already cooperation with NATO: there is a bureau for relations with the alliance, and there is a NATO center in Chisinau. Joint exercises are constantly taking place.

— Moldovan fugitive oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc, who was extradited from Greece, was brought to Chisinau. Can we consider this as a political move by the ruling party before the elections?

— The authorities are afraid of Plahotniuc like fire. They were in the same alliance, in the same government. Many say that together with Plahotniuc, they also voted for the privatization of some banks, and members of the current party also received bribes from Plahotniuc. If he talks about it, it's clear what it can lead to. They haven't even looked for him in eight years. He was brought in today, the day before the election, so that he would not have time to give any interviews and roll out compromising material.