Moldova’s pro-European ruling party is polling neck-and-neck with a pro-Russian bloc going into next weekend’s parliamentary election, cast once more as an existential fight for the soul of the nation.
With President Maia Sandu warning of a “new battle” with Russia at the ballot box, her opponents are stoking fears about a decadent Europe and an impending winter energy crisis.
For the past five years, Sandu and the ruling Action and Solidarity Party, PAS, have sought to cement Moldova’s pro-European trajectory, but face a challenge from the Patriotic Electoral Bloc, BEP, a pro-Russian alliance of the Socialists, Communists, the Heart of Moldova Party and the Future of Moldova Party.
Of four parties or blocs polling above the five per cent threshold to enter parliament, only PAS is firmly on the side of European Union accession.
Angela Gramada, director of the Bucharest-based think tank Expert for Security and Global Affairs, said the September 28 election was again being fought on emotion and fear rather than party policy.
“The church will again claim that Moldova’s EU accession will threaten religious freedom and lead to the closure of churches,” Gramada told BIRN. “Some parties will perpetuate the unfounded notion that foreigners will seize our land, that the EU represents moral decay, and that only Russia can safeguard Moldova’s interests.”
