Kremlin loses elections in Moldova despite attempts to bribe voters

The election results are absolutely expected, because all polls showed approximately the same outcome. I mean real public opinion polls, not fake ones that were thrown into the public space by the same party of socialists. I know for sure that this data is also available in Moscow. I know that they had data from surveys conducted in the winter and, in fact, from January to the day of the elections, nothing much has changed.

Moreover, the Socialist Party was stimulated with massive support from Moscow at a fairly high level through its counterpart Igor Dodon and Igor Chaika. They helped in the election campaign with money, resources, influence, due to this, the Socialist Party won an additional five or six mandates. I mean the massive bribery and transportation of voters from the Transnistrian region, the work of political technologists.

For the official Kremlin, it was of principle to prevent the emergence of a constitutional majority, which would be oriented towards the European Union. Why is it so? It’s hard to say, but in my understanding this is a red line, and the Kremlin has successfully achieved results in the form of a blocking stake in the Moldovan parliament.

If we talk about the relations of the new government with the Kremlin, then, firstly, the dialogue between the president and official Moscow has not been established, mainly due to the fault of Moscow. There is no interest at the level of people who make decisions, primarily the deputy head of the presidential administration Kozak, and secondly, people at a lower level who are operatively involved in bilateral relations continue to be tied mainly to Igor Dodon and a special interest in changing something for them. not.

Bilateral relations depend, of course, primarily on the position of Russia itself. Moldova is not able to impose a vision of these relations. The new administration of Moldova will not look for any reason to escalate the situation, but will try to conduct the most transparent policy towards Russia, as clearly, honestly and openly show its position and not give reasons for counter-attacks, despite the fact that the Sandu administration is well aware that Moscow has an absolutely negative attitude towards it. The new government will try to avoid conflicts, not provoke them and will try to find some elements of the agenda where a constructive dialogue and cooperation can be established. The extent to which a constructive dialogue will emerge depends on Moscow. I would not be optimistic, because we have experience of the last 10 years of conducting politics in Moldova through proxy parties that are controlled by the Kremlin, like the same party of socialists.

Of course, there will be no inclinations in terms of joining NATO or any other horror stories from Russia. Firstly, Moldova is a neutral country, and secondly, the level of development of state institutions, the army, the presence of the Transnistrian conflict – all this suggests that no entry into NATO threatens us.

The Kremlin should understand what to expect from the new government, despite the fact that the level of expertise on what is happening in Moldova has dropped dramatically in Russia in recent years. It comes to some completely delusional interpretations and a superficial approach. People speak in sweeping phrases about things that they do not understand. At the same time, the vast majority of those who participate in the formation of the agenda have personal interests, receive kickbacks, common shares in the business. Even the money that was allocated to bribe voters in Transnistria stole 80 percent, because there, according to an investigation published in the European press, they allocated 35 euros per vote, and people got 10 euros each. Yes, and they allocated 30 thousand votes, but they got only 20 thousand.