Evghenia Gutsul, the leader of the autonomous region of Gagauzia, was sentenced to seven years imprisonment for her role in funneling MLD 42.5 million (USD 2.5 million) from the exiled oligarch Ilan Shor to both finance the activities of his banned political party and to pay citizens to vote for it. Gutsul, who was also placed on a European Union sanctions list for her role in ‘destabilizing’ the region, allegedly at the behest of the Russian government, says she plans to appeal the conviction and that the charges are politically motivated. The judge overseeing the trial received pressure from unidentified people to rule in Gutsul’s favor, including receiving death threats if she did not comply, accompanied with photographs of corpses. Gutsul will, however, remain in office, as although a conviction is grounds for her removal, a separate legal proceeding is required. The sentence comes weeks before Moldova’s parliamentary election, scheduled on 28 September.

Sources: Ziarul de Gardă (1), Ziarul de Gardă (2), International IDEA (1), International IDEA (2)

Parliament adopted a law on 29 May expanding out-of-country postal voting to Moldovans residing in Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea as well as providing more administrative resources to oversee the postal voting process. International postal voting was first implemented for Moldovans residing in six countries for the 2024 presidential election. The law also requires voter registration to be completed 30 days prior to the election and ballots to be received by the electoral commission 3 days before the election date. Registration was previously allowed up to 20 days before and ballots could be received 2 days before. At least one quarter of Moldova’s population, or between 1.2 million and 2 million people, is estimated to live abroad. 

Sources: Ziarul de Gardă, Parliament of Moldova, Emerging Europe

Moldovan MPs Alexander Nesterovschi and Irina Lozovan were sentenced to 12 and six years’ imprisonment (respectively) in absentia in March for their roles in laundering money for the fugitive Russia-based oligarch Ilan Shor to finance pro-Russian political politicians in Moldova. The cases mark the first convictions of sitting politicians as part of the anti-corruption investigators’ investigation into Shor’s network in the country. Both MPs are believed to have fled the country with the assistance of Russian diplomats. Another suspected participant in the scheme is the Bashkan (‘head’) of the autonomous region of Gagauzia, Evghenia Gutsul, who was detained on 28 March at Chisinau Airport while attempting to board a flight to Moscow. A Chisinau court placed Gutsul in preventive detention for an initial period of 20 days, marking the first time a sitting Bashkan has been arrested.  

 Sources: Reuters, The Moscow Times, Newsmaker, International IDEA 

Moldova held a two-round presidential election on 20 October and 3 November. The incumbent President Maia Sandu of the Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) led in the first round with 42.49 per cent of the vote, ahead of Alexandr Stoianoglo of the Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova (PSRM), but short of the 50 per cent threshold required to avoid a second round. Sandu won the second round with 54.34 per cent of the votes. A referendum on enshrining European Union (EU) accession in Moldova’s constitution was also on the ballot on 20 October and passed by a narrow margin, with 50.46 per cent in favour. Voter turnout increased; turnout for the first round rose to 51.68 per cent from 48.54 per cent in 2020 and to 54.29 per cent from 52.76 per cent in the second round. 

Sources: British Broadcasting Corporation, Comisia Electorala Centrala, Moldova Matters, The Guardian, Reuters, Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe