With two days remaining until the general local elections in Moldova, the Commission for Exceptional Situations (CES) today decided to cancel the registration of all candidates fielded by the Șansă/Chance Party. This was announced by Prime Minister Dorin Recean, who declared that “it’s not a political party, but a criminal organization that is being eliminated from the elections”.

The electoral authorities have been instructed to strike out, by means of stamping, all Șansă candidates on the ballot papers printed for the upcoming elections.

Recean, who chairs the CES, said the decision was based on reports from law enforcement agencies, which found that Șansă was being used by the Shor group to influence the elections in the interest of Russia.

“The Russian Federation cannot invade Moldova by tanks, as it has done in Ukraine, but instead it invades with organized crime and dirty money in order to corrupt justice, corrupt civil servants, corrupt politicians, and spread disinformation. They have a national network of organizers, treasurers, people who talk to the police, and so on, they have at their disposal encrypted electronic devices for communication and money transfers”, the prime minister said.

Recean suggested that Russia spent over a billion lei to influence the local elections.

“The challenges are systemic and this is not an isolated case. The state has the obligation to put an end to these assaults. There are already 160 volumes of evidence to be submitted to court”, stated Recean.