The spectacular victory of two millionaires with legal cases started against them for the mayoralty of two important towns of Moldova can be explained only by voters’ despair. Such a conclusion was formulated by Romanian experts in the talk show “European horizon” on TVR Moldova channel, IPN reports.

Writer and political analyst Vasile Ernu considers these results reveal the problems faced by Moldova. “Romania hasn’t seen such a situation for a long time. The people in the small towns of Moldova face extreme poverty. They acted absurdly in a situation of despair. Even if they are accused of committing serious crimes, Usatui and Shor won overwhelmingly owing to the fact that they disseminated populist messages and promised to invest their own money to develop the towns where they ran. The people care about nothing more,” said Ernu.

However, the writer considers that the situation in Orhei is more serious than in Balti. “What happened in Orhei is a slap given to the European course and Romanianism. It is regrettable that such a choice was made in a settlement where real Romanian values were kept,” stated Ernu.

Ileana Racheru, researcher of the ex-Soviet area of the Romanian Diplomatic Institute, believes the victory of Usatyi and Shor in the local elections in Moldova is due to the people’s disappointment in the ruling political class. “Those from Balti and Orhei penalized the political class by their vote. In Chisinau, the voters also penalized the ruling political class so that the candidates of the Democratic Party and the Liberal Democratic Party scored very poor results in the race for the mayoralty of Chisinau. The Liberal Party was also penalized by voters’ absenteeism. The situation in villages is different because the population there is not informed,” he said.

Renato Usatyi won the mayoral elections in Balti with over 72% of the vote, while Ilan Shor became mayor of Orhei after winning 62% of the ballot.