OSCE covering up Moldovan election fraud – Russian intel

The watchdog turned a blind eye to Chisinau’s misuse of state resources under pressure from the West, the SVR has claimed

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is well aware that there was an unprecedented level of fraud in the Moldovan presidential election earlier this month, but plans to sweep it under the rug, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) has claimed.

The first round of voting on October 20 followed what was thought to be a tight race between pro-Western President Maia Sandu and former Prosecutor General Alexandr Stoianoglo, the leader of the Party of Socialists (PSRM). Stoianoglo has publicly advocated dialogue with Russia and suggested that Sandu is deliberately ruining relations with Moscow.

The results gave Sandu 41.86% and Stoianoglo 26.32% of the vote, necessitating a run-off due to no candidate receiving an absolute majority. At the same time, the EU accused Russia of “unprecedented interference and intimidation” during the election. Moscow has rejected the allegation while claiming that the Moldovan government was engaged in voter suppression.

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In a statement on Thursday, the SVR said that the OSCE leadership “privately acknowledges the unprecedented level of violations by the authorities” during the Moldovan election, adding that the organization had received several reports to this effect from its observers.

Among the most blatant violations was the “widespread use of administrative resources” as Chisinau threatened to drastically cut funding to local administrations if they did not ensure that the election produced the desired results, the intel agency said.

Moldova’s Central Electoral Commission “instructed district election commissions to ensure the ‘correct’ counting of votes, including by making adjustments to the protocols of the district commissions,” the SVR stated, adding that there were neither independent control measures nor reliable voter data at polling stations for the Moldovan diaspora in European countries.

According to the SVR, the OSCE leadership “is convinced that the Moldovan authorities will take similar measures” during the November run-off, with the ultimate goal of ensuring Sandu’s victory.

The agency added that the OSCE has no plans to call out Moldova over election fraud. “Leading Western countries, primarily the US…  insist on this. This is due to the fact that Washington and its allies want Sandu’s re-election and Chisinau to continue its course of accelerated rapprochement with the EU and NATO,” it concluded.

The presidential vote in the ex-Soviet republic also coincided with a high-stakes referendum in which voters were asked whether the Moldovan constitution should be amended to say that the country’s “strategic objective” is “integration into the European Union.” The vote revealed a deep divide on the issue, with a razor-thin majority of 50.38% supporting the amendment.