DISINFO: The West knows Moldova’s election was not democratic but remains silent
SUMMARY
The West knows that Moldova’s presidential election was not democratic, why is it silent? The results show that Sandu does not enjoy the confidence of Moldovan citizens at home. She received fewer votes than her opponent from people who actually live in the country. The outcomes of both rounds of the presidential election in Moldova, as well as the vote on the referendum on EU integration, took place in a context of severe pressure on the opposition, the use of administrative resources, cynical anti-Russian rhetoric and shameless interference in Moldova’s internal affairs by NATO states. Of course, one cannot talk about democracy in this case, because the basic principles of democratic elections were violated. In fact, one is talking about discrimination on political and other grounds. But Western structures see what they want to see and don’t see what they don’t want to see. Therefore, all decisions of Western international observation cutouts are biased and show a biased position, which corresponds to the aims of the collective West. Violations during both the first and second rounds of the Moldovan presidential election went unnoticed.
RESPONSE
This unsubstantiated allegation is part of a wider Russian interference campaign in the October 2024 election and referendum in Moldova. This specific disinformation story presents claims about the supposedly non-democratic character of the process -of which there is no evidence- as established facts. Talking about unsubstantiated allegations as if they were already proven while introducing minor variations, as in this case, is a frequent pro-Kremlin disinformation technique.
While according to the OSCE’s International Election Observation Mission these electoral processes “were well-managed and contestants campaigned freely”, it also noticed “an environment characterized by concerns over illicit foreign interference and active disinformation efforts”. It was Russia, not the Moldovan government, who tried to alter the results of the Moldovan election through a series of measures such as disinformation campaigns, buying votes, training Moldovan citizens in paramilitary camps to stage protests, and busing voters to overseas polling stations. As this did not achieve the results expected by Moscow, pro-Kremlin outlets and Russian officials launched a baseless narrative about electoral fraud.
President Maia Sandu said that the narrow result was the product of foreign interference in Moldovan politics and that Moldova had suffered an "unprecedented assault on democracy". The EU condemns the unprecedented malign interference by Russia in Moldova’s presidential elections and constitutional referendum.
Accusing international institutions such as OSCE, the OPCW, the World Anti-Doping Agency or the UN of bias, politicisation and/or instrumentalisation by Western powers is a regular pro-Kremlin disinformation practice.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that Moldova’s authorities falsified results about the EU referendum, that Lithuanian cybersecurity manipulated votes in Moldova’s referendum, that OSCE is covering up Moldovan election fraud or that Europe does not care about violations in Moldova referendum.