(Adnkronos) – The Parliament of Chisinau has established that political elections will be held in Moldova on September 28th. The president of the former Soviet country, Maia Sandu, very critical of the Kremlin since the invasion of Ukraine, has stressed that the vote will be crucial for the European future of Moldova. “Our task is to preserve internal stability and join the European Union in the next four years,” Sandu told MPs.
President since 2020, Sandu has led Moldova towards official EU accession negotiations, which began in June 2024. Her center-right Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) is the main force in Parliament since the 2021 elections.
The vote scheduled for the end of September promises to be uncertain after Sandu’s narrow victory in last year’s presidential elections and the referendum on EU membership, supported by 50.4% of voters. “It is sad to admit, but our country is still fragile,” Sandu said, urging the population not to vote for the “corrupt” politicians of the past.
Police recently announced that over 140,000 people in a country of 2.5 million are under investigation for vote buying in relation to the last presidential election. The government has accused Russia of interfering in the elections by buying the votes of up to 300,000 people.
Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Doina Gherman of the PAS, said that now that the election date has been set, a “race against time” has begun. “Either we become strong and independent in the great European family or we remain divided and under the influence of Russia,” she said.
The pro-Russian opposition had instead called for early elections, proposing July. “The people’s desire is for the elections to be held as soon as possible,” Socialist MP Grigore Novac had said, before the proposal was rejected.
