VIDEO // PM says Moldova not to allow anyone to direct its elections from abroad

Moldova will not allow anyone to direct its elections from abroad. We will use all available tools to protect the sovereignty, democracy and European future of the country. The parliament of Moldova must remain the voice of our people, not become an instrument of the Kremlin. Prime Minister Dorin Recean has made statements to this effect. The PM today participated in a regional conference titled, Money in Politics - Money, Security, and Democracy: Protecting Electoral Integrity in the Digital Age.

The prime minister said that the parliamentary elections due in next autumn must be clean, free and correctly financed. "Otherwise, we expose ourselves to the risk of being manipulated, bought and ultimately undermined," said Dorin Recean.

"Today, I send a clear message - democracy is not for sale. Votes are not negotiated by fugitive oligarchs. Moldova will not return to the past, and the parliament of   Moldova must remain the voice of our people, not become an instrument of the Kremlin," said the PM.

According to the official, for years, political parties have been financed from obscure sources, with bags, and the governance was vitiated by the interests of small groups controlled from outside.

"We ever more see crime rings. External malign actors try to exploit and misuse the laws that democracy is based on. And they expect us to judge them by the Electoral Code rather than the Criminal Code, by the Audiovisual Code rather than the Criminal Code," the prime minister said.

He noted that Moldova had learned the lesson from last year, during the presidential elections and the constitutional referendum, when "we witnessed how dishonest money can try to suppress the will of the citizens."

"I remind and emphasize - in Moldova, crime rings spent almost the equivalent of 1 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product. For a mature democracy, in a large country in the European Union, this would mean 3 billion euros. Law-enforcers investigated how a Russian bank opened over 138,000 accounts for Moldovan citizens to transfer money to voters, aiming to influence the outcome in favor of an organized crime ring," the PM also said.

According to the prime minister, despite these influences, the people ultimately chose freely and the democracy prevailed, but "those actions still taught us that the danger is real." "Foreign interference is extensive, sophisticated and supported - a serious challenge, especially for a small country like ours," the prime minister opined.

Dorin Recean said that "the next major test is the parliamentary elections due in September."

"Besides the money transferred through fake accounts, there are networks using cryptocurrencies to finance intermediaries, and Russian experts are testing the boundaries of our institutions in various ways: provoking energy crises at the beginning of this year, continued economic destabilization in the Transnistrian region, cyberattacks targeting electoral infrastructure, using artificial intelligence for sophisticated disinformation. More worryingly, phantom parties are being created, which seem to be pro-European, but are funded from Russia, in order to force a pro-Kremlin majority in parliament," Dorin Recean informed.

The prime minister assured that "Moldova will not allow anyone to direct our elections from abroad" and that "all available tools will be used to protect the country's sovereignty, democracy and European future."

"We must have the courage to defend the free vote, to protect citizens from manipulation and defend the country's sovereignty. Do you know why we insist so much on this subject? Because democracy can be lost not only with tanks, but with millions of euros pumped into anonymous advertising accounts, with pocket media platforms, including those directly founded in Moscow, with paid influencers to lie and with silences bought. We will not stand by, we will act, we will defend the rule of law, we will ensure that citizens know their vote counts and cannot be bought," Dorin Recean stressed.

He added that the country had an absolutely clear target - Moldova, part of the European Union. "Our path towards the European Union implies standards, rules, and integrity, and we are determined to rise to these expectations, the expectations of the citizens of Moldova," the prime minister said.





IFrame

The regional conference, Money in Politics, with the topic, Money, Security, and Democracy: Protecting Electoral Integrity in the Digital Age, takes place in Chisinau on July 8-9, 2025. The event provides a platform for exchanging experiences and strategic dialogue at the intersection of political financing, electoral security and digital resilience. Over two days, participants will explore in-depth the risks related to online electoral campaigns, illicit political financing in the digital space, foreign interference, the use of cryptocurrencies, vote buying and disinformation.

The 2025 edition aims to address the challenges of the digital era and advance a common agenda for transparency, integrity and electoral resilience. By bringing together key actors from across Eastern Europe, the conference will support identifying more robust protection mechanisms, more efficient oversight and more coordinated responses to the growing threats faced by democracies in the region and beyond.

The conference is organized by the Central Electoral Commission of Moldova, in partnership with International IDEA, UNDP, the Council of Europe, IFES, the Westminster Foundation for Democracy and the International Republican Institute.