2024 Moldovan presidential election

On 17 April 2024, Parliament speaker Igor Grosu announced the holding of the presidential election in conjunction with the constitutional referendum on European Union (EU) accession on 20 October.^[2] The decision was approved by the Parliament of Moldova on 16 May.^[11][12]

The Constitution of Moldova (Article 78, Clause 2) defines four conditions that a presidential candidate must satisfy: Moldovan citizenship, at least 40 years of age, residence in Moldova for at least 10 years, and ability to speak the state language. Article 80 of the Constitution establishes a term limit: one individual cannot serve more than 2 terms in a row.^[13]

Candidates can be nominated by a political party, an electoral alliance, or run as independents. They have to collect at least 15,000 voter signatures in their support from at least half of Moldova's level 2 administrative territorial units with at least 600 signatures in each of them.^[14] The election results can be considered valid only if the turnout is above or equal to 33.33%.^[15] The candidate who receives an absolute majority of the votes is elected president. If no candidate receives a majority of the votes, a second round between the top 2 candidates is held two weeks after the first round. The candidate with the largest number of votes in the second round then becomes president.^[16]

Moldovan authorities have accused Russian-trained groups of plotting to destabilise the election.^[17]

In June 2024, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada issued a joint statement on Russian influence within the Moldovan election.^{[18][19][20][21]} At the same time, the US also announced sanctions against the Governor of Gagauzia Evghenia Guțul, who it alleged is an "active facilitator" of Russian-backed election influence.^[22]

In September 2024, incidents of vandalism on the offices of the Supreme Court of Justice of Moldova and on the public broadcaster Teleradio-Moldova were attributed to the said groups.^[23] In October 2024, authorities announced the discovery of a plot by exiled pro-Russian oligarch Ilan Shor involving $15 million in funds from Russia that were distributed to around 130,000 people in order to bribe voters into selecting anti-Western decisions, and spread disinformation against the European Union on social media, following raids on 26 locations nationwide.^[24][25] Russia denied the accusations.^[26] Security checks were strengthened at Chișinău International Airport following an influx of passengers from Russia carrying large amounts of cash believed to be connected with the plot.^[27]

Later that month, Moldova accused Russia of plotting to bus in voters to polling stations at the Moldovan Embassy in Moscow. In response, the EU imposed sanctions on five officials from the autonomous Gagauzia region and on one Russian-based entity involved in the influence operation.^[28] The United States accused Russia of spending "millions of dollars" to support its preferred parties and spreading disinformation online.^[29][30] The Russian foreign ministry in turn accused Moldova of printing only 10,000 ballots for 500,000 eligible Moldovans living in Russia.^[31]

On 17 October, Moldovan authorities announced the discovery of another plot in which 100 youths were trained in Moscow, Serbia and Bosnia by private military groups to foment civil unrest, including using nonlethal weapons to create "mass disorder" during the election and referendum, adding that four people had been arrested and that some of them received several thousand euros in payments.^[32]

Olga Roșca, a foreign policy adviser to Sandu, said that "Russia is pouring millions in dirty money to hijack our democratic processes. This isn't just meddling, it's full-blown interference aimed at destabilising our future. And it is alarming."^[5]

The European Union deployed its Cyber Rapid Response Team led by Lithuania to Moldova in order to oversee cybersecurity concerns in the election and referendum following a request from the Moldovan Information Technology and Cyber Security Service.^[33]

On 31 October, authorities raided a political party headquarters and accused 12 people of engaging in vote-buying. Forty government employees were also placed under investigation for selling their votes. On 1 November, Prime Minister Dorin Recean reported cases of "anonymous death threats via phone calls" being made on citizens nationwide, which he described as an attempt to scare voters.^[34] On the day of the runoff vote, the CEC said that it had received reports of organised and illegal transportation of voters to Russia, Belarus, Azerbaijan and Turkey.^[35] Stanislav Secrieru, a national security adviser to Sandu, wrote on X: "We are seeing massive interference by Russia in our electoral process," which he said had a "high potential to distort the outcome" of the vote.^[36]

Moldovan citizens living abroad, mostly those working or studying overseas, who were eligible to vote faced other security issues at the second round of voting including false bomb threats at polling stations that temporarily disrupted voting in multiple cities in Germany and in Liverpool and Northampton in the United Kingdom.^[37][38] After polling stations in Germany, located in Hamburg, Frankfurt, Kaiserslautern and Berlin were targeted by bomb threats, the German government, via foreign minister Annalena Baerbock condemned the "massive, coordinated attempt" to prevent Moldovans abroad voting, describing bomb threats against Moldovan polling stations in Germany as "totally unacceptable".^[38]

On 6 November, the Russian foreign ministry summoned Moldovan ambassador Lilian Darii to complain about Moldova barring eight Russian election observers from entering the country to monitor the election and referendum.^[39] Following the election, the Moldovan government served a note on 12 November to the Russian ambassador Oleg Ozerov formally complaining about Moscow's interference.^[40]

Approximately 2.8 million ballots were issued for the election and the EU membership constitutional referendum. For the first time in Moldova, ballots were featured not only in Romanian but also in as many as five minority languages. Thus, 2,092,641 ballots were in Romanian, 631,979 in Russian, 3,400 in Gagauz, 991 in Bulgarian, 870 in the Romani language and 115 in Ukrainian. For voters in the pro-Russian separatist region of Transnistria, 90,000 ballots were issued, of which 45,000 were in Romanian and the rest in Russian.^[41]

For the election and the referendum, 234 polling stations were opened abroad. The first vote in both was cast by Ludmila Vizdoagă, a woman who at the time had lived in South Korea for 19 years. She traveled from Seoul to Tokyo to vote in the polling station for Japan, which was the first to be opened.^[41] A polling station was also set up in Varnița to serve voters from Transnistria.^[42]

Voting was held from 07:00 to 21:00.^[42] As of 15:00, the minimum turnout of 33.33% necessary for the validation of the election had been reached with a turnout of 35.57%.^[43]

1,988 polling stations were opened throughout Moldova, including 30 that were utilised for voters living in Transnistria who had to go to Moldovan-held territory.^[35] Promo-LEX observers detected 109 incidents at polling stations or in their immediate vicinity. These included the presence of electoral advertising material near polling stations, electoral agitation, the unjustified presence of unauthorized persons, violations of the secrecy of the vote, obstruction of access to observers and unjustified interruption of the vote.^[44]

Launching her re-election campaign, Sandu condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine as a threat to regional stability and Moldova's sovereignty. She identified both Russia and corruption as the biggest challenges facing Moldova, emphasizing that addressing these issues is crucial for Moldova's security and its aspirations for closer integration with the European Union.^[45] In the presidential debate, Sandu accused Stoianoglo of being a "Trojan horse" candidate for outside interests wanting control of Moldova.^[46] She said she would continue her pro-European course, saying, "Joining the European Union is Moldova's Marshall Plan".^[47]

Stoianoglo said that he was in favour of joining the EU and that "the level of Russian interference in Moldova is highly exaggerated", adding that he would seek a "reset of relations" with Russia.^[48] He expressed his intention to bridge differences with Moldova's separatist Transnistria region. In response to accusations, Stoianoglo stated that he had no connections to Ilan Shor, the fugitive pro-Russian businessman who admitted to paying voters to cast "no" ballots in the EU membership constitutional referendum.^[49] Stoianoglo did not condemn Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, describing it as "a continuing tragedy" and suggesting that he would be willing to meeting Vladimir Putin.^[49]

Renato Usatîi, who finished third in the first round of the 2020 presidential election, sought to adopt a middle ground between Russia and Western Europe.^[45]

Between 21 and 31 August, the Central Electoral Commission of Moldova (CEC) received 23 applications for the registration of initiative groups in support of 19 candidates, of which 13 applications were accepted.^[50] Two of these initiative groups failed to get their candidate registered in the election.

Name	Born	Campaign	Experience	Party		Status
Maia Sandu	24 May 1972 (53) Risipeni, Fălești	(website)	President of Moldova (2020–present) Prime Minister of Moldova (2019) Minister of Education (2012–2015)		Independent[a]	Registered[51]
Alexandr Stoianoglo	3 June 1967 (58) Comrat, Gagauzia		Prosecutor General of Moldova (2019–2021) Vice President of the Parliament (2009–2010)		Independent[b]	Registered[52]
Renato Usatîi	4 November 1978 (47) Fălești	(website)	Mayor of Bălți (2015–2018, 2019–2021)		Our Party	Registered[53]
Vasile Tarlev	9 October 1963 (62) Bașcalia, Basarabeasca	(website)	Prime Minister of Moldova (2001–2008)		Future of Moldova Party endorsed by the Party of Communists	Registered[54]
Irina Vlah	26 February 1974 (51) Comrat, Gagauzia	(website)	Governor of Gagauzia (2015–2023)		Independent	Registered[55]
Ion Chicu	28 February 1972 (53) Pîrjolteni, Călărași		Prime Minister of Moldova (2019–2020) Minister of Finance (2018–2019)		Party of Development and Consolidation	Registered[55]
Andrei Năstase	6 August 1975 (50) Mîndrești, Telenești	(website)	Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Internal Affairs (2019)		Independent	Registered[56]
Octavian Țîcu	21 August 1972 (53) Costuleni, Ungheni		Member of Parliament (2019–2021) Minister of Youth and Sport (2013)		Together	Registered[56]
Victoria Furtună	24 February 1981 (44) Hîncești	(website)	Anti-corruption prosecutor		Independent	Registered[57]
Tudor Ulianovschi	25 May 1983 (42) Florești	(website)	Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration (2018–2019) Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein (2016–2018) Permanent Representative to the United Nations (2016–2018)		Independent	Registered[57]
Natalia Morari	12 January 1984 (42) Hîncești	(website)	Journalist Host of Morari.live		Independent	Registered[57]

The following people had their registration as candidates for the election rejected by the Central Electoral Commission:

• Igor Munteanu (Coalition for Unity and Welfare^[c]), Ambassador to the United States, Canada and Mexico (2010–2015);^[59] he had previously gotten his initiative group registered,^[60] but the CEC invalidated some of the signatures in his support submitted by his party and he fell short of the minimum number required for his registration as a candidate.^[59]
• Vasile Bolea (independent), Member of the Moldovan Parliament (2014–present); the CEC rejected his registration as a candidate, arguing that he was backed by the bloc Victory and the party Revival despite having claimed to have disassociated himself from Revival to participate as an independent candidate. Revival is part of the bloc Victory, led by fugitive Moldovan oligarch Ilan Shor. The CEC did not allow Victory to participate in the election.^[61]
• Valeriu Pleșca (European Social Democratic Party), Minister of Defense (2004–2007)^[62]
• Valentin Borodachi (independent)^[63]
• Ludmila Corsun (independent)^[64]
• Avelin Tabarcea (independent)^[65][66]

Furthermore, Alexandru Arseni, whose initiative group supporting his candidacy had been successfully registered, did not submit the necessary documents for his inscription on the ballot of the election,^[67] having previously failed to obtain the required number of signatures in his support within the required time frame.^[68]

Ziarul de Gardă also listed Vlad Filat and Ștefan Savițchi among the people that intended to run as a candidate in the election who either failed to submit the necessary documents to the CEC or whose applications were rejected.^[60] Filat, former Moldovan prime minister and then president of the Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova (PLDM), stated that he was unable to run because the government failed to implement a 2023 ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) which determined that the authorities had violated his right to a fair trial in 2016 in relation to a passive corruption and influence peddling case because the court hearings were held behind closed doors.^[69] The PLDM had decided to nominate Filat for the election on 31 May.^[70] On the other hand, Savițchi was the vicepresident of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) and announced on 30 July his intention to run as an independent candidate,^[71] later stating that he had "parted nicely" from the ALDE.^[72]

The following people were subjects of speculation about their potential candidacy within the previous months, but they rejected the speculation and announced they would not run as a candidate:

• Ion Ceban, Mayor of Chișinău (2019–present)^[73]
• Igor Dodon, President of Moldova (2016–2020)^[74][75]

The table below lists the political parties and other political organizations that supported any of the candidates in the first and second rounds of the presidential election.

Incumbent president Maia Sandu and Alexandr Stoianoglo advanced to the runoff, with Sandu winning the first round with about 42.5 percent of votes.^[130] She did best in the central part of the country, winning 48.32% of the vote in Chișinău, her best result of 59.97% was in Ialoveni District. Sandu's strongest result was abroad, with 70.71% of the vote. In contrast, she recorded her worst results in the autonomy of Gagauzia^[131] and the Bulgarian-majority^[132] Taraclia District, at 2.26% and 4.44% of the vote, respectively. Meanwhile, Stoianoglo, a native of Gagauzia^[133] secured his best result there, with slightly less than 50% of the vote. In addition to Gagauzia, he also performed well in the north of the country,^[134] as well as Taraclia.

Incumbent president Maia Sandu defeated Alexandr Stoianoglo with about 55% of votes, compared to 45% of votes.^[10] Stoianoglo led the counting within Moldova, particularly among rural areas and in the south of the country and Transnistria, winning 51.2%.^[37] He recorded back-to-back landslide results in Gagauzia and Taraclia, winning more than 90% of the vote in each.^[135] However, Sandu led votes in Chișinău and other cities, among the youth and the Moldovan diaspora, where she won 83% of the vote.^{[136][37][137]} She secured her best result in Ialoveni District, which was also her strongest performance in the first round. Stoianoglo won seven subdivisions he lost in the first round: he secured Fălești District first won by Usatîi, as well as Sîngerei, Șoldănești, Dubăsari, Basarabeasca, Cahul districts and Botanica in Chișinău previously won by Sandu.^[135]

• 
  Sandu's results by district, first round
• 
  Sandu's results by district, second round
• 
  Stoianoglo's results by district, first round