A man aged 27 faces a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment because he tried to corrupt voters before the local elections of 2015. The prosecution established that on May 20, 2015 the man purchased the domain www.alegerimoldova.com for a period of a year, creating a web platform through which he tried to persuade the voters who accessed the website to vote for a particular candidate in the local elections, IPN reports.

According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, the young man assured the website users of complete anonymity and of the safety of the illegal actions that these were to take. Two days before the local elections, the platform administrator was to send an email letter to them with the data of the candidate that these were to vote. Afterward, the voter was to photograph the ballot and to send the photo to the man, who promised them by 50 lei for each photographed ballot.

The young man also tried to persuade representatives of political parties and candidates running in the local elections to purchase votes in advance in exchange for a commission of 20%. He indicated that winning 1% of the vote in the local elections in Chisinau cost about US$20,000, while 1% of the ballot in the local elections in Balti – about US$2,500.

The man does not work. When being questioned by prosecutors, he partially admitted his guilt. He faces a fine of 10,000 lei or up to five years in jail.