Moldova, second round of presidential elections. Maia Sandu about the “Trojan Horse”

Maia Sandu in the first round of the presidential electionswhich took place on October 20, received 42.49 percent of support, and her main rival, Alexandr Stoianoglo – 26.95 percent.

– We know who the Trojan horse is, Sandu said at the beginning of a televised debate organized before the second round of voting, which will take place on November 3. The incumbent president added that “today there was supposed to be a candidate here with whom she could discuss serious issues and solutions, but unfortunately there is a Trojan horse, a man with the help of whom others want to run the country, backed by other people's interests and money.”

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Stoianoglo comes from the autonomous, pro-Russian region of Gagauzia. He was supported by pro-Russian socialists led by former president Igor Dodon.

Sandu accused her rival of having no achievements as a former attorney general while he was in office. – How will you be able to convince citizens that he will be a better president than he was as prosecutor general? – she asked rhetorically. She also expressed doubts whether he would cope with the economic crisis.

The incumbent president also asked Stoianoglo what his team would be like if he became president. – We know a few people: Sor, Platon, Dodon, and who are the rest? – she asked.

Ilan Sor is a fugitive Moldovan oligarch, his party has repeatedly organized in Moldova protests against the pro-Western authorities in Chisinau. Moldovan businessman Veaceslav Platon was sentenced in 2017 by a court in Chisinau to 18 years in prison for embezzling millions of lei from one of the banks. Igor Dodon, former president and current leader of the Moldovan socialists, is a known supporter of the Kremlin authorities.

Sandu reminded Stoianoglo that she had a Romanian passport and asked how she planned to build relations with Bucharest, having the support of “Dodon and Moscow”.

Stoianoglo, in turn, argued during the debate that his program is based on the economic development and modernization of the country, the return of economic migrants and good relations “with all partners”, including Ukraine, Russia and China. He argued that he was a supporter of Moldova's European course. At the same time, he explained that he boycotted the EU referendum because, as he said, it served Sandu's “political goals.”

According to analysts speaking for the NewsMaker portal, both Sandu and her rival “continued the discussion they had been conducting throughout the election campaign and talked more about the past than the future, which can hardly be considered a classic debate in a democratic country.”

Alexei Tulbure, a former Moldovan diplomat, historian and political scientist, told NewsMaker that “to win, Maia Sandu has three tasks to accomplish: even greater mobilization of the diaspora, traveling to the northern and southern regions of Moldova, and performing well in subsequent debates.”

After the first round of voting, Sandu stated that “criminal groups that acted together with foreign forces hostile to national interests attacked the state using tens of millions of euros, lies and propaganda.” – We have evidence that these criminal groups intended to buy 300,000 votes as part of fraud on an unprecedented scale.

On Thursday, Moldovan police revealed that USD 39 million, intended for electoral bribery, entered the country illegally in September and October. As she announced, this is only part of the amount that Ilan Sor and Russia spent to influence the outcome of the presidential elections and the referendum on including Eurointegration in the constitution, in which the answer “yes” was chosen by 50.38 percent of voters.