The co-presidents of the electoral bloc NOW Maia Sandu and Andrei Năstase say they have reasons to believe they have been poisoned with heavy metals including mercury and suspect the governing party might be behind. The Democrats have denied any involvement, suggesting such allegations should be distrusted as an electoral stratagem.

“I’d been feeling not so well in the recent past so I did some tests. I discovered I had high levels of heavy metals in my blood, and this happened to me and to Mr. Năstase, too. We underwent treatment that reduced those levels. But recent tests have shown another spike and the doctors we have spoken with say such accumulations don’t have a natural explanation, meaning they cannot happen without external intervention”, per Sandu’s account.

“These are (mere) suspicions, but we should take such things seriously considering the attacks and the attitudes shown by the current government against those who imperil their grip on power”, Sandu told reporters.

Andrei Năstase also thinks the explanation is that their two-party bloc has become a “threat to the government”. “I am one hundred percent positive, we are the targets of vicious attacks from this government that wishes us dead. Sure, they cannot do it like they do it in Russia, shoot you in the street. Yet.

“There has been an attempt on my life by heavy metals (poisoning) and one of those metals is mercury. Mercury has been used against me as well as against Ms. Sandu and Mr. Alexandru Machedon and other colleagues in shared environments. The point is we me and Ms. Sandu have been exposed to mercury from sources yet unknown”, said Năstase, adding that foreign specialists ruled out natural causes.

Contacted for comments, Democratic Party spokesperson Vitalie Gamurari suggested the allegations should be taken with a grain of salt and bearing in mind that only three days remained until Election Day. “Regretfully, some political actors try to play the victim perhaps to compensate for the absence of some concrete, tangible projects that would be attractive to voters. Had such an allegation occured in a workday situation, our reaction would have been different. But otherwise I’m sure there is no evidence”, stated Gamurari.