Socialists' candidate for Moldovan president's office speaks about purchasing of votes, how to develop good relations with Ukraine, Romania

Chisinau, 31 October /MOLDPRES/ - The candidate of the Party of Socialists (PSRM) for the Moldovan president’s office, Alexandr Stoianoglo, says that both he and the party which backed him had not purchased votes at the elections. In an online speech, Stoianoglo said that such statements on the buying of voters can be made only by representatives of law-enforcement bodies.     

As for the purchasing of votes, Alexandr Stoianoglo avoided to directly condemn those who had plotted this unprecedented scheme, noting that the current governance would be guilty. The PSRM candidate also said that, if he was prosecutor, such infringements, as the illegal financing of parties and corrupting voters, would not have existed, as the basic duty of the law-enforcement bodies is the one of preventing offences.     

„First of all, in all my political activity, I participated also in the elections of the bashkan (governor) of Gagauzia; I did not buy votes. I assure you that I did not do this during these elections too. Neither on my behalf, as I am man of law, neither on behalf of the Party of Socialists, this was not done. I want to urge you to detach ourselves from political statements, to detach ourselves from statements alleging that we see a thief and a corrupt person in each man. Such statements are dangerous for our society; they divide the society according to political criteria. The establishing of the purchasing of votes is within the competence of the law-enforcement bodies and only the representatives of these bodies have right to make such statements. Moreover, such infringements must be not only established, but also prevented; this is the basic duty of the law-enforcement bodies,’’ Stoianoglo said.          

At the same time, the former prosecutor does not want to be associated with Igor Dodon and neither with the party which supports him in elections, noting that they would have different visions. Stoianoglo gave assurances that, if he wins in the elections, he would have good relations with Ukraine, with Romania, as well as with other states.  

„Do not associate me with Igor Dodon. Dodon is leader of a political party which backed me and this does not mean that I would have certain obligations before this party or before Dodon. PSRM has its programme and ideology, which differs much from my vision, including as regards Ukraine. I repeat: I condemn, with no reservation, the war in Ukraine. I support the territorial integrity of Ukraine according to the borders from 1991 and I will continue to keep my position, no matter whether I will be president or not. I assure you that I will have good relations with Ukraine and we will promote peace initiatives; we will be the country which will promote ceasefire initiatives. We will have good relations both with Kiev and with Bucharest, as well as with other European states,’’ candidate Alexandr Stoianoglo said.       

The runoff of the presidential elections will take place in Moldova on 3 November. The current President of Moldova, Maia Sandu, backed by PAS and the Socialists’ candidate, Alexandr Stoianoglo, will fight for the office of head of state.

Following the ballot from 20 October, President Maia Sandu, who aspires to the second mandate of head of state, said that the elections would have been rigged through massive purchasing of votes, with the target being 300,000 votes. She accused the Kremlin’s forces of these frauds. The police found out that that almost 39 million dollars had been spent by Shor’s supporters in the last two months to corrupt voters from Moldova. Presently, law-enforcers investigate thousands of cases of buying of votes and are to impose fines worth almost two million lei.