Moldova elections: Thousands fined for vote selling await final court decisions
Thousands sanctioned over allegations of vote selling in the 2024 elections are still awaiting court verdicts.
While some fines have been upheld and others cancelled, the majority of appeals remain under court examination, according to an analysis by Radio Free Europe.
During the campaign for the September 28 parliamentary elections, police reported dozens of searches weekly in voter corruption cases and continued to issue fines for similar offenses committed during the presidential elections and the referendum in the fall of 2024. Authorities in Moldova's capital, Chișinău, described the phenomenon as unprecedented, claiming that thousands of votes were allegedly bought by groups affiliated with Ilan Șor, a fugitive businessman and oligarch.
According to the General Police Inspectorate, over 30,000 offences for vote selling were registered between April and September 12, 2025. Applied fines range from 25,000 to 37,500 lei, and over 15,000 people have contested the violation reports in the lower courts.
Court statistics, summarised by Radio Free Europe: Bălți District Court: 3,046 appeals lodged; 1,457 fines upheld, 347 cancelled, 87 partially granted, the remaining 1,103 under examination.
Chișinău District Court: 2,316 appeals lodged; 316 granted, 54 rejected, 1,866 under examination.
Edineț, Cahul, Drochia: between 1,100 and 1,800 appeals each, with hundreds of cases still under examination.
Soroca District Court: the majority of fines upheld – 670, only six cancelled.
Cimișlia District Court: 292 cancelled and 90 upheld.
Fines for corruption: Inconsistent verdicts
Among the examples indicated by Radio Free Europe is that of a man from Ialoveni, who received a fine of 37,500 lei for attending a campaign meeting and receiving a jar of honey, tea, and a small cake. The Buiucani District Court and the Centru Appeal Court upheld the sanction.
Another man, from the village of Iserlia, Basarabeasca district, was fined 25,000 lei because another person installed the Russian bank "Promsvyazbank" (PSB) app on his phone. The fined man complained in court that the violation report was drawn up with serious errors and that the exact date the violation was committed wasn't even indicated. The Cimișlia District Court cancelled the sanction, noting that the police officer violated the law by applying the fine for an action that took place in July 2024, given that the legal provision stipulating this penalty only came into force on August 15, 2024.
The head of the Basarabeasca police challenged the decision at the Southern Appeal Court. The commissioner insisted that the man's rights were explained to him and that he signed the report, which "creates a strong presumption that the essence and nature of the accusation were clear to him."
"Even if the money transfer did not occur, the act of installing a banking application – performed by a third party – fits into a context clearly aimed at carrying out an illicit transaction," the commissioner explained. "Non-use of this money, as well as not exercising the right to vote, does not influence the qualification of the contravenor's actions," the police officer noted.
The judges of the Southern Appeal Court upheld the lower court's decision. They agreed that the sanction cannot be applied because the alleged violation had not yet been introduced into the Contravention Code.
At the same time, a woman from Sângerei was fined 27,500 lei for installing the PSB app and receiving messages about money for votes. The Bălți District Court cancelled the fine, but the Northern Appeal Court reinstated it, reasoning that the intention to participate in an illicit transaction constitutes a contravention, even if the actual money transfer did not take place.
According to the same source, at the Centru Appeal Court, the first case of this type was registered on June 13, 2025, and the total number of appeals reached 493 by September 28. The judges upheld five decisions of the lower courts regarding the fining of citizens. In one case, the magistrates cancelled the decision to impose the fine on the grounds that "no contravention had been committed," in another, the judges upheld the decision to cancel the sanction, and in the third, they sent the case back for retrial. Another 483 cases are under examination, and verdicts are pending in two cases.
On September 15, the head of the General Police Inspectorate, Viorel Cernăuțeanu, announced that over 30,000 people had been investigated for vote-buying and selling cases, and the amount already collected by the state budget from the applied fines exceeded 18 million lei.
Translation by Iurie Tataru
