Moldovan minister urges voters to shun 'thieves'

30/9/2024 6:03

        A senior government
        minister urged Moldovans on Sunday to shun "thieves, fugitives
        and bandits" after an exiled pro-Russian business magnate
        pledged to pay voters to vote "no" in a referendum on joining
        the European Union.
        
        Infrastructure Minister Andrei Spinu's call underscored the
        increasingly unruly campaign for the Oct. 20 presidential
        election in which pro-European incumbent Maia Sandu is seeking a
        second term.
        
        Voters will also take part in a referendum on altering the
        constitution to enable ex-Soviet Moldova, one of Europe's
        poorest countries, to press for membership of the 27-nation EU.
        
        The most vocal opponent of EU membership, fugitive
        pro-Russian businessman Ilan Shor, offered in a weekend Telegram
        post to pay voters the equivalent of $29 if they registered for
        his campaign in the country lying between Ukraine and Romania.
        
        Voters, he said, would get larger rewards if they cast "no"
        ballots in the referendum and if results showed they lived in
        electoral districts rejecting the proposal.
        
        Shor was sentenced to 15 years in prison last year in
        absentia in connection with his role in the disappearance of $1
        billion from Moldova's banking system.
        
        Exiled in Russia, he now heads the "Victory" election
        bloc,
        
        barred
        
        from taking part in the campaign.
        
        Andrei Spinu, infrastructure minister and head of Sandu's
        re-election campaign team, said opponents of the president's EU
        drive were "using money to buy votes and people".
        
        "They are using propaganda to spread lies about the European
        Union and frighten people with all sorts of tall tales," he
        wrote on Telegram. "Let us not believe thieves, fugitives and
        bandits."
        
        Sandu, who denounces Russia's invasion of Ukraine and views
        Moscow as one of the biggest threats facing Moldova, also told
        voters in a Saturday address to be on guard against fraud.
        
        "The liars are now trying to intimidate us and oblige us to
        take decisions other than those that we want," she said. "We
        must not let them decide our own fate."
        
        In recent days, paint has been daubed on buildings belonging
        to Moldova's state-owned broadcaster, the Supreme Court and two
        other state institutions. Police blame the incidents on a group
        trained in Moscow to destabilise the election.
        
        Sandu is favoured to win the presidential vote against 10
        challengers, with a recent poll crediting her with about 27%
        support. That poll put backing for EU membership at 56% among
        decided voters with 34% opposed.