Moldova. Results. Not the most cheerful - despite the victory of the pro-Europeans
07.10.2025Spoiler: Putin's operation to capture Moldova's election failed. Nevertheless, everything is still very difficult.
Conclusion
On Sunday, October 5, a week after the elections, the CEC officially approved their results. Out of 101 mandates, 55 went to the ruling PAS (Deistvie y Solidarnost), which confirmed its monomajority in the parliament for a second term. True, in the first term she had 63 mandates, but, taking into account the huge Russian pressure, 55 mandates in the second term is an excellent result. Far from minimal separation, and despite the lies spread by Moscow, not only at the expense of the diaspora.
Further, 26 mandates were received by the "Patriotic Bloc", aka Patblok - a union of three parties - socialists (Ihor Dodon), communists (Vladimir Voronin) and "Future Moldova" (Vasily Tarlev), - managed directly from Moscow. The electoral campaign of the bloc was an organic part of a single operation to implement a de facto anti-European coup in Moldova, with a return to the Moscow protectorate, headed by the fugitive bank swindler Ilan Shor, who hid in Moscow.
There is little hope for the collapse of the bloc, rather it will remain in the parliament for the entire term. There was also a fourth party in it - "Heart of Moldova" by Irina Vlach, but it was removed from the elections at the last moment, for illegal financing and complicity in electoral bribery. The three remaining batches are not better at all, but the investigators did not collect a sufficient evidence base. It has not been collected yet - but there, who knows, who knows...
"Alternative" block - eight mandates. They are CheKySTy, by the surnames of the leaders: Cheban, Kiku, Stoyanoglo and Tkachuk. Cryptopro-Russian association of three parties and one corrupt official, ex-prosecutor Alexander Stoyanoglo, masquerading as "Europeans - supporters of good relations and also and with Russia". Most likely, they will disintegrate like a burst appendicitis and begin to penetrate everywhere, poisoning everything they can penetrate. Like Patblok, "Alternative" was an organic part of Moscow's operation to seize Moldova's election, but there is not enough formal evidence.
The fourth place in "Our Party" Renato Usatoy - six mandates. The party is built around Usatoy himself, a populist who will cooperate with anyone for the sake of participation in power. In the past, Usatyi was heavily accused of vicious ties with Russia, and his electorate is a depoliticized commoner who, due to the volume of Kremlin propaganda broadcast to Moldova, is prone to post-Soviet nostalgia and pro-Moscow sympathies. But, unlike Patblok and "Alternative", Usatyi was not seen in the last election as complicit in Moscow's attack on Moldova.
And, finally, a surprise, and the fifth place: "Democracy at home" by Vasyl Kostyuk, they are "pipidastris", according to the Romanian abbreviation PPDA. Kostiuk took six mandates through Tik-Tok, using the technology of the Romanian presidential candidate Calin Giorgescu, who almost won in 2024, but was kicked out of the elections due to dishonest manipulation, and the Romanian AUR (AUR - Alliance for the Unity of Romanians), which nominated its leader, George Simeon, in the newly appointed presidential elections of 2025. "Pipidastri" are closely related to AUR, in fact, they are its Moldovan branch, albeit an unofficial one. Officially the Moldovan branch of AUR since 2022 Leads Boris Volosaty.
Kostyuk immediately came to the union with AUR. He entered politics from the Civil Platform "Dignity and Pravda", on the basis of which Andrey Nestase created the DA Platform party, participated in protests against Plahotniuk and was, according to Nestase, who broke with him, secretly bought by him. There is no direct evidence of this, but indirect evidence is sufficient. Then Kostyuk, already on his own, and gradually getting closer to AUR, ran for mayor of Chisinau in 2018 and 2023, but lost, and finally succeeded, surprising everyone.
Having lost his principles and needing funds, Kostyuk, like Simion, was fed by the Kremlin. He did not enter the obvious hacking system of Moldova, which was controlled by the AP of the Russian Federation through Shore, but he constantly hung around, shining on dubious eventsand broadcasting Kremlin narratives.
For all these transgressions, the CEC, at the behest of PAS, deprived the Pipidastrov of its power for 12 months of state funding already after the elections, and sent a lawsuit to the Constitutional Court to annul the mandates they received, which presupposes a recount in favor of the remaining parties, +3 for PAS and one each for the others. But the chances of withdrawing "Democracy at home" from the parliament are practically zero.
So, there are five parties in the parliament, at least three of which are clearly pro-Russian. The pro-European PAS has a small but reliable advantage, and it is able to form a government on its own. As far as we can judge, it will not differ much from the current one.
How were the elections?
In short -. Moscow acted very harshly, actually preparing a coup. Bribery of voters and informational pressure through social networks were unprecedented. On average, the Kremlin per each voter spent $313 dollars each. It was impossible to act in such conditions with white gloves, and the government also responded harshly, without hesitation removing parties found in illegal activities from the elections and imposing real deadlines on Shor's wallets. The referendum and presidential elections (the second round took place on November 3 of last year) took place in approximately the same way. In other words, for two years, a fierce information war and a legal war were going on in Moldova, leaving behind ruins and scorched wastelands.
Its echo will be heard for a long time. In the courts of Moldova more than 15 thousand fines are contestedimposed by the police for electoral corruption. The criminal prosecution of Putin's agents continues, as well as her arrests. It is possible that some deputies in the new parliament will be stripped of their immunity on criminal grounds.
These harsh, but justified in the current situation, actions of the authorities gave rise to "good anti-Putin Russians" who fled to Moldova like a pack of hyenas, hoping for money from any side, blame Maya Sandu and the government in dictatorial style. In fighters for the ideals of democracy pro-Kremlin propagandists are also repainted, clearly demonstrating that between pro-Putin Russians and "good Russians for a new, democratic Russia"there is no fundamental difference, no clear border.
Prospects
There is no reason to relax. The elections showed Moscow's determination to go for big expenses, stopping at nothing. The problem of the "pro-Russian north" and "pro-Russian south", as well as the de facto occupation by Russia, has grown into full growth separatist Transnistria. At the same time, "gingerbread" from the center and from Brussels are distributed Tiraspol, Comrat и Balti they obviously don't solve the problem, which has been proven dozens of times already. Moreover, they exacerbate the problem, driving it to a final dead end.
Strong pressure on disloyal regions is necessary, according to the principle "friends - everything, enemies - law." But the party in power does not have the political will for such pressure, and to a large extent - for corruption reasons.
Moscow confidently controls, albeit not the majority, but a very significant minority of Moldovan voters. It is so significant that if PAS does not start to act much more decisively than in its first term, not being afraid to escalate the situation and not trying to build compromises with Moscow, which is impossible in principle, this minority will become the majority.
Meanwhile, PAS itself has finally worn out and become dilapidated. The elections showed that she, in fact, relies on the personal charisma of Maya Sandu. With which, it must be said, everything is far from simple and good. And the one who entered her second term, and the third term in a row is not provided for by law.
By the next elections, this dilapidated construction of "PAS riding Sand" will inevitably fall apart and Moldova can easily get into a tailspin according to the Georgian scenario. Moreover, PAS is so dilapidated even today that there is no question of its restyling. It is necessary to create a new pro-European party capable of fighting for power before the next elections, and to prepare a worthy successor to Sanda, who is not in sight at all. Considering the scarcity of the Moldovan political field, this should be dealt with immediately - but the Moldovan government is more likely to rest on its laurels after its four years.
In fact, there is no opposition in Moldova. Pro-Russian puppets are not recognized as such - they are not the opposition within Moldova, but the agency of a foreign state. The reason is simple - against the background of extreme idiocy (in the original, Greek sense of the word) inherent in the entire Moldovan society, Moscow is rooting for all those dissatisfied with the ruling party. This is all the more simple because the main reason for their discontent is to lose in the struggle for access to the official feeding trough.
Andrey Nestase announced his intention to create an opposition PAS and, at the same time, a pro-European party, but the intention to create something sane is a huge distance. All attempts to create a second pro-European project capable of, if not competing, then at least contending with PAS and being in a coalition with it have so far failed, and always for one reason: the leaders of these projects were either directly bribed by Moscow or displaced by Moscow's puppets. And around Nastase, too, an extremely suspicious Russian commotion has already begun.
Local elections will be held in Moldova in 2027. The last elections for pre-European forces turned out to be, if not outright unsuccessful, at least not very successful. On the other hand, it would be possible to run new pro-European projects in addition to PAS in local elections. But where are they, these projects? Unfortunately, there are none yet. At the same time, Moscow's plans to return Moldova under its protectorate are still in force, and all the key figures of their executors are in their places and are not going to leave the distance.
Sergey Ilchenko, deputy editor-in-chief
