Just two days before Moldova’s pivotal parliamentary elections, the country’s Central Electoral Commission (CEC) made a dramatic move: it banned two major pro-Russian parties from the ballot, igniting fierce debate about the integrity of the electoral process, the future of Moldova’s democracy, and the shadow of foreign interference.
The CEC’s decisions, announced on September 26, 2025, targeted the Heart of Moldova party and Moldova Mare (Greater Moldova), both widely regarded as key vehicles for Russian influence in the country. The Heart of Moldova, a core component of the Patriotic Electoral Bloc coalition, was excluded following a Chisinau Court of Appeal ruling that suspended its activities for 12 months. The court cited mounting evidence of voter bribery, illegal party financing, money laundering, and, in the case of Moldova Mare, non-transparent funding and direct voter inducements.
Authorities acted swiftly: all Heart of Moldova candidates—36 in total—were struck from the Patriotic Bloc’s list, and the alliance was given just 24 hours to update its ticket. The Moldova Mare party, led by the controversial Victoria Furtună, was also disqualified after CEC members found it was acting as a successor to the previously outlawed Shor Party, using unreported funds from abroad and collaborating with other banned groups. Both parties have announced plans to appeal the decisions, but the ban stands for the September 28 vote.
The stakes could hardly be higher. The elections are widely seen as a turning point for Moldova, a former Soviet republic and European Union candidate state, as it sits at the crossroads of East and West. The ruling pro-European Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS), led by President Maia Sandu and Prime Minister Dorin Recean, has held a parliamentary majority since 2021. Yet polling suggests that PAS may lose that edge, opening the door for coalition governments and increased political maneuvering by opposition forces—many of them with deep ties to Moscow.
Irina Vlah, leader of Heart of Moldova, has emerged as a lightning rod in the controversy. After being banned from entering Latvia, Estonia, and Poland on September 25—those countries accused her of facilitating Russian interference—Vlah took to Facebook, lambasting the CEC’s move as “insulting” and a “political spectacle concocted long ago by the ruling party.” She added, “We have made numerous calls pointing out the crimes committed against us, but there has been no reaction, no change in attitude, which once again confirms that a scenario has been implemented against us in recent weeks.” According to BGNES, Heart of Moldova issued a statement calling the ban “the final act of a dirty spectacle, premeditated by the authorities with one goal: to silence us.”
Victoria Furtună, leader of Moldova Mare, also condemned her party’s exclusion and vowed to appeal. Furtună has previously courted controversy by openly calling for the annexation of Budjak—a region in Ukraine’s Odesa oblast—to give Moldova access to the sea, a stance that has alarmed both Kyiv and the West. According to TV8 and RBC-Ukraine, the CEC found that Moldova Mare had used unreported financial resources, including inflows from abroad, and provided voters with money and goods in an attempt to sway the outcome.
These bans come against a backdrop of mounting warnings from Moldovan authorities and international observers about unprecedented Russian efforts to sway the election. The government alleges that Moscow is spending hundreds of millions of euros to buy votes, orchestrate unrest, and spread disinformation. In the week leading up to the election, police detained 74 people suspected of preparing violent provocations, with authorities claiming the suspects had traveled to Serbia for training in firearms, crowd control, and protest tactics under Russian direction. Participants were reportedly paid around €400 each, as reported by The Associated Press.
President Maia Sandu has been blunt about the stakes. She warned, "If Moscow gains control over Moldova, European funds will cease, Moldova could become a springboard for incursions into Odesa Oblast [in Ukraine], and the Transnistrian region will be destabilized." The specter of Moldova being used as a launchpad for Russian operations against Ukraine has raised alarm in European capitals and among NATO allies. With nearly 12% of Moldova’s territory already under de facto Russian control through the breakaway Transnistria region, the outcome of Sunday’s vote could reshape the security landscape on Ukraine’s southern flank.
Russia, for its part, has denied all allegations of meddling. The Russian Foreign Ministry dismissed the accusations as "anti-Russian and unfounded," while the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) accused the European Union of plotting to "occupy" Moldova with NATO troops—a charge for which no evidence was provided. Russian-backed networks have reportedly used a variety of tactics: recruiting Moldovans abroad to vote en masse, staging protests to demand the government’s resignation, and orchestrating large-scale disinformation campaigns on social media.
The current wave of interference is not without precedent. In 2024, according to a confidential report from Moldova’s Security and Intelligence Service, Russian oligarch Ilan Șor funneled $39 million into vote-buying schemes, targeting an estimated 300,000 voters ahead of Moldova’s presidential elections and EU referendum. Experts have warned for months that the 2025 parliamentary elections would see an escalation, with Russia exploiting Moldova’s internal divisions to promote an anti-European agenda and block the country’s EU accession.
For many Moldovans, the bans have only deepened the sense of polarization. Supporters of the ruling PAS and pro-European factions argue that the measures are necessary to safeguard democracy and national security. As Cristian Cantir, an international relations professor at Oakland University, told the Associated Press, “If political competitors break the law and contribute to the Kremlin’s plans to undermine Moldova, an institutional response is necessary for the preservation of the country’s security and democracy.”
Opposition forces, by contrast, see the exclusions as politically motivated repression. They claim that the bans are designed to silence dissent and tilt the electoral field in favor of the incumbent government. The Patriotic Electoral Bloc, which includes socialists, communists, and the Future of Moldova party, insists it wants “friendship with Russia, the country’s permanent neutrality, and a state that serves the people, not officials.”
With the September 28 vote looming, the outcome remains uncertain. Polls suggest that while PAS may secure the most votes, it is unlikely to win a clear majority, setting the stage for complex coalition talks and continued friction between pro-European and pro-Russian camps. The ability of Moldova’s institutions to withstand pressure—both internal and external—will be tested as never before.
As ballots are cast and results tallied, all eyes will be on Chisinau to see whether Moldova’s fragile democracy can hold the line in the face of mounting threats, or whether the country will be pulled back into the orbit of its powerful neighbor to the east.