The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Moldova today, on August 11, issued a statement in which it rejected the accusation of Russian officials of preparing falsification of voting results among the diaspora in the autumn parliamentary elections. The agency considers this as "unacceptable interference" in internal affairs and part of a "disinformation campaign" aimed at "undermining the electoral process and discrediting Moldovan communities abroad."
The reaction of the department followed the publication in the Russian media of an article by the Secretary of the Security Council and ex-Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation Sergei Shoigu, in which he writes that the Moldovan authorities intend to use crude and primitive methods of falsification in the voting of representatives of the diaspora. He suggests that destabilization is possible according to the scenario of the Ukrainian Maidan.
The Moldovan Foreign Ministry responded that Chisinau is focused "on organizing transparent and legitimate elections."
"The Republic of Moldova reaffirms its commitment to democratic values and rejects any attempts from the outside to destabilize the electoral process and state stability," the commentary says.
The Central Election Commission also rejects Shoigu's information. The CEC claims that Moldovan citizens living abroad "have equal constitutional rights to vote and that any attempts to question their rights are unacceptable."
The Moldovan authorities decided to open only two polling stations in Moscow on the territory of Russia, where the largest diaspora lives. Moreover, only 5 thousand ballots will be sent there, although the number of potential voters exceeds 350 thousand. At the same time, Chisinau opens 73 polling stations for 250 thousand Moldovans living in Italy.
"There is no doubt that the bet of the current authorities is made on the vote of the diaspora in the West. This is not even an impact on the result, it is a fitting of the voting results by technical means," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said earlier.
As EADaily reported, according to former Moldovan Ambassador to Moscow Andrei Negutsa, Chisinau deliberately restricts the voting rights of its citizens living in Russia, as it is afraid of "inconvenient results." According to him, the main falsification of the voting results, based on the experience of last year's presidential elections, will be carried out at the expense of the European diaspora.