Sergey Manastyrly, director of the Research, Analysis and Forecasts Center Balkan Center, considers the foreign partners could not recognize the results of the presidential elections in Moldova. In IPN’s public debate “Election rigging: how it is done, how to fight it”, he said it is highly probable that the opposition of the right and the foreign partners too will not recognize the election outcome. Those who will lose will refuse to recognize it and their position will be supported by ambassadors and representatives of foreign countries.

Furthermore, three is one more aspect, stated the expert. “The elections could be not recognized by the Constitutional Court for the reason that the recommendations formulated after the presidential elections of 2016 weren’t fulfilled. If the opposition and civil society maintain that the violations were repeated, the elections can be nullified,” he stated.

The expert does not rule out the possibility that mass protests will be mounted after the elections. “There are preconditions for those of the right to unite and stage protests. But the move will cause rejection, even of those who are close, but who are disposed to betray,” he stated.

According to Sergey Manastyrly, the role of the external forces in the possible organization of protests is overestimated. “I’m not sure that the external forces will play the first violin role. What matters more is how successfully the opposition informs its supporters of the cases of falsification and misleading and persuades them to take to the streets,” concluded the director of Balkan Center.

The public debate “Election rigging: how it is done, how to fight it” was held as part of the mini-series “We and the President: who elects who, who represents who?” that is part of the project “Developing political culture through public debate” that is implemented by IPN with support from the Hanns Seidel Foundation.