Over 47,700 Russian citizens cast their vote in Chisinau

Over 47,700 holders of Russian citizenship residing in Moldova temporarily or permanently took part in Russia’s State Duma elections held on December 2. They marked their ballots at the poling station opened inside the Russian Embassy in Chisinau. According to a communiqué from the Embassy, 83.58% of the voters (39,072 people) chose President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party and 4.96% (2,321) A Fair Russia party. The Liberal Democratic Party of Russia polled 4.94% of the vote (2,310 people), while the Communist Party 4.43% (2,069). The other parties gained less than 1% of the poll. Some 0.33% of the ballot papers were declared invalid. The Russian Embassy does not give information about the elections held in the Transnistrian region. According to the Transnistrian news agency “Olvia-press”, ten polling stations were opened in Tiraspol on December 2, six in Bender, by two in Dubasari and Rabnita and by one in Slobozia, Dnestrovsc, Grigoriopol and Crasnoie. A team with a mobile ballot box traveled to Camenca. Before the elections, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration informed the Russian Embassy that under the national legislation, the opening of a polling station for the State Duma elections is legally possible only inside the Russian Embassy in Chisinau. Chisinau called on Moscow to refrain from opening polling stations in the eastern part of Moldova, which is not under the control of the legal authorities. The request was backed by over 20 Moldovan public organisations that criticised Russia for defying the international law norms and the Republic of Moldova as a state based on the rule of law. In a subsequent communiqué, the Russian Embassy in Chisinau said that under the international law, the place where the armed forces are stationed has the status of extra-territorial location. Therefore, the statements that the opening of Russian polling stations in Transnistria would mean defiance of Moldova’s sovereignty are erroneous, the Embassy’s press service said.