CHISINAU, March 25. /TASS/. Irina Vlah, the former head of Moldova’s Gagauz autonomy, has accused Moldovan President Maia Sandu and her ruling Party of Action and Solidarity of seeking to rig the upcoming presidential election through the use of mail-in ballots in the United States and Canada.
"Sandu and her party are trying to convince us that the law on absentee ballots in the United States and Canada is in the interests of Moldovan citizens living there, to make voting easier for them. This is a lie," she said in a video address posted on her Telegram channel.
She recalled that twelve polling stations were organized in the United States alone during the previous presidential election in 2021, and each had 5,000 paper ballots. "Theoretically, 60,000 of our citizens could have cast their votes but only 5,700 came to the polling stations. And more than 50,000 ballots were not used while there were shortages at polling stations in Europe," she said.
According to Vlah, mail-in voting is meant to "rig the election for Sandu" and "the time lag is to play a key role." "When voting in Moldova is over, it will continue in the United States and Canada for ten more hours. This additional time and the lack of control over what is sent by mail will offer ideal conditions for the government-controlled Central Election Commission to produce the result Sandu wants," she explained while calling on the parliamentary opposition to challenge this decision with the Constitutional Court.
Last week, the ruling party’s majority in Moldova’s parliament passed in the first reading a law on mail-in voting outside Moldova. Lawmakers from the opposition Bloc of Communists and Socialists voted against it. They accused Sandu and the Party of Action and Solidarity of seeking to rig the presidential election in the fall. They also slammed this decision as being discriminatory against Moldovan migrants in Israel, Italy, and Russia.
Late in 2023, Sandu announced her plans to run for her second presidential term and suggested parliament organize a referendum on Moldova’s accession to the European Union on the same day as the presidential poll. Relevant amendments have already been made to the Electoral Code. Opposition parties and public activists argue that having these two events on the same day, as well as voting by mail are meant to keep Sandu and her party’s approval ratings from collapsing amid the economic crisis and grassroots protests.