CEC petitions to dissolve parties for illegal financing
The Central Electoral Commission (CEC) plans to petition the Ministry of Justice to dissolve the “Șansă” Political Party and to limit the activities of the “Forța de Alternativă și de Salvare a Moldovei” (Alternative and Salvation Force of Moldova) and the “Renaștere” (Revival) parties.
This recommendation was formulated by a control group that analyzed the activities of parties within the “Victorie” (Victory) Bloc between July 1 and October 31, 2024, in the context of the presidential elections and the referendum regarding European integration.
According to a report published on the CEC's website, the “Victorie” Bloc's member parties—the Political Party “Forța de Alternativă și de Salvare a Moldovei,” the “Victorie” Political Party, the “Șansă” Political Party, and the “Renaștere” Political Party—engaged in joint, covert actions to influence the results of the presidential elections and the constitutional republican referendum held on October 20, 2024.
These actions were directed and coordinated by the fugitive Ilan Șor, leader of the former “Șor” Party, which was declared unconstitutional in June 2023.
“These facts confirm the continuity of illicit acts by the former ‘Șor’ Political Party. These acts, committed on a massive scale and scope, pose a real danger to the integrity of democratic and electoral processes, including the national security of the Republic of Moldova,” the authors of the report state.
Among the illegal activities identified were joint, often disguised, meetings between members of the “Victorie” Bloc and their sympathizers and voters; renting venues and offices for electoral meetings; the orchestrated holding of protests and flash mobs; contracting transport to move people to events; promoting and financing infrastructure projects; organizing entertainment events, including for children and the elderly; and providing money, goods, and food products.
The control group also estimated that between July 1 and October 31, 2024, the minimum expenses for organizing political and socio-cultural events exceeded 2.914 million lei, which is more than the minimum threshold of 20 average monthly salaries (274,000 lei) set for 2024.
The control group classifies these actions as offenses punishable by sanctions for electoral corruption, violating the management of financial assets of political parties or electoral funds, and the illegal financing of political parties, initiative groups, electoral contestants, or referendum participants.
Therefore, the authors of the report further recommend that the CEC notify the criminal investigation body to examine the origin of the financial sources used by the parties of the “Victorie” Bloc to organize political and socio-cultural events during the specified period, “apparently lacking the documents that would confirm their legality.”
The “Victorie” Bloc, composed of the “Renaștere,” “Șansă,” “Forța de Alternativă și de Salvare a Moldovei,” and “Victorie” parties, was launched in April 2024 in Moscow by the convicted fugitive Ilan Șor. This political entity was banned from the parliamentary elections held on September 28. The leaders of the bloc's constituent parties recently announced they would file separate requests with the CEC to register for the electoral race.
On Sunday, August 3, the central electoral authority excluded four parties from the list of those eligible for the autumn parliamentary elections—including “Forța de Alternativă și de Salvare a Moldovei,” “Șansă,” and “Victorie”—in connection with decisions by the Public Services Agency not to register changes to the data entered in the State Register of Legal Entities.
Translation by Iurie Tataru
