Deep: Hot elections over Dniester

The authorities controlled by the Action and Solidarity organization (PAS) of the President-in-Office of Mai Sandu deprives the anticipation of voting in the parliamentary elections of the people of Transnistria scheduled for 28 September. This may, in the meantime, contribute to the defeat of the ruling camp.

Before the elections, emotions in Moldova scope zenith. The governing formation Mai Sandu loses support and seemingly tries to apply administrative methods to hold power. He besides wants to support the widely understood Western – Chisinau leaders of Germany, Romania, France and Poland have already visited during the election campaign. However, the most crucial component of the pre-election efforts of PAS is to effort to exclude from the vote not in favour of this group of electorate. And these are discrimination practices. The methods utilized are rather simple and consist in denying the anticipation of casting a vote or hindering the participation of a large proportion of possible opposition voters in the elections.

There's nowhere to vote.

In August, the Moldovan Central Election Commission 3 times reduced the number of places to vote in Transnistria, where Moldovans live. In 2021 they had 41 regional electoral commissions at their disposal, and only 12 will be opened this year. Almost 300 000 people with citizenship and electoral rights in Moldova live in Transnistria all day. According to a survey late conducted by the Transnistrian Institute of Political Research, 2/3 of them express their willingness to vote on 28 September. The Bureau of the ultimate Council in Transnistria, or Parliament, asked the authorities in Chisinau to halt discrimination against the people of this region – unsuccessfully. This has circumstantial political causes: Moldovans from Transnistria mostly do not support Sandu and its formation, but at the same time express their willingness to vote for opposition parties.

Transnistrian Politologist Anatoli Dirun explains that "For the ruling PAS, voices from Tiraspol and another left-coast cities may pose a threat". The Sandu organization must feel clearly threatened by the failure of power and so decided to reduce the number of electoral commissions not only in Transnistria but besides in Russia, where a large proportion of Moldovan citizens reside.

Against the Constitution

The machinations in the voting circuit origin protests not only among commentators and opponents, but besides any of the members of the Central Election Commission. In their opinion, the committee did not make the conditions for him to vote in Transnistria, which is contrary to the provisions of the Constitution and the Electoral Code (the Moldovan law recognises Transnistria as part of the territory of the Republic of Moldova). They besides say that the problem can be solved in accordance with the applicable rules, for example by extending the voting time to 2 days. Otherwise, from a legal point of view, we are faced with a regulation of the electoral rights of the people of Moldova discriminating them due to their place of residence, which is simply a constitutional part of the state's territory. However, political logic prevails with the legal and constitutional argument: it is about eliminating the voices of Moldovans against the skeptics.

Electoral engineering

At the same time, from a legal point of view, there is simply a violation of the rule of equality, fundamental to the strategy and enshrined in the fundamental law. The point is that the people of Transnistrians in advance have conditions for participating in elections worse than, for example, Moldovans surviving in European Union countries. The same applies to Moldovans in Russia – only 2 polling stations will be operating in Moscow, although the number of Moldovans in the Russian capital alone is higher than in the EU. The limitation of electoral rights will apply to hundreds of thousands of citizens, both those outside the country and those remaining on the ground (Nadeptre). In the United States, similar, though more subtle, practices were baptized as gerrymandering. We frequently talk about electoral engineering in this context.

Discrimination, intimidation, prohibitions

The mission of observers from the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, which monitors the course of the Moldovan parliamentary elections, was besides highlighted. Members of Parliament from European countries came to Chisinau in early September and expressed concerns about the insufficient number of electoral committees in Transnistria. specified conclusions were reached after meetings with members of the Central Election Commission, parties taking part in elections, NGOs and journalists. The OSCE mission learned from the opposition's mouth of alarming irregularities of the pre-election period. For example, representatives of the Communist organization of the Republic of Moldova (PCRM) told observers of attempts to intimidate opposition voters, including the activities of safety authorities in this area. According to them, the ruling PAS is trying to reduce electoral attendance in regions where traditionally advanced support is enjoyed by left-wing patriotic formations: in Gagauzia, Transnistria or Russia. PCRM considers that "at the same time, the number of voting circuits in EU countries has increased significantly, where it is hard to control the vote counting opposition. This creates a hazard of manipulating the results and falsifying the results of elections". The Communists besides pay attention to the arrests and arrests of opposition politicians and the ban on holding public gatherings, which is besides to apply for a period after the election. In their view, it is introduced to thwart possible post-election protests in case of false results.

OSCE comments

Others highlighted the interference of external factors in the election campaign. The fact that Moldovan independency festival in Chisinau was celebrated, in their opinion, can be regarded as such. Emmanuel Macron, Friedrich Merz and Donald Tusk. They supported Sandu straight and declared that the pro-European policy of the current authorities would open the door for the Moldovans to integrate with the European Union (sometime akin promises were made in Ukraine). Head of Mission of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Linnéa Wickman (Swedish Social Democratic MP) stated that the talks between mission members and local partners allowed to identify existing problems, and the importance of the mission is demonstrated by the fact that the elections will be monitored by as many as 85 members of the Parliamentary Assembly. And that's most likely the most alarming message for PAS. Wickman's message is rather clear: the mission does not intend to indulge in possible violations of electoral law. So Sandu may lose his legitimacy at least in the eyes of the West.

Andrzej Dołęga