Future Timeline

4 hours ago

Andrei Nastase became a marked man due to his role in exposing a criminal network run by the Russian mafia and shady powerful oligarchs which had laundered a staggering $22bn (£17bn) of illicit money.

Guns were fired near the lawyer and former prosecutor’s family home in the Moldovan capital Chisinau; a hidden camera was later discovered planted inside the house. Cars with number plates from Transnistria, a Russian enclave, followed him daily. His wife and children were harassed, as was his brother Vasile, a journalist and former MP.

Doctors suspected Nastase was the victim of poisoning when five times the normal level of mercury was found in his blood after he became suddenly ill. He decided, after recovery, to send his wife and children out of the country for their safety.

The family were separated for eight months in 2012, with Nastase and other pro-democracy activists facing constant pressure during the turbulence still present after more than a decade of independence from the Soviet Union. The reformers continued to fight back. In 2018, Nastase stood for, and won, the mayoral election for Chisinau, beating the pro-Russian candidate Ion Ceban.

The election, however, was declared invalid by the courts on a technicality. Nastase had campaigned on election day in an alleged violation of rules. The decision led to prolonged street protests and extensive criticism from the US administration and the European Union, with Brussels suspending a €100m (£84m) aid package to Moldova as a punishment.

20 October 2024

Moldova's referendum on whether to change its constitution and commit to joining the EU hangs in the balance, with the No and Yes votes neck and neck.

With Yes on 49.9% and No on 50.1% - with 97% of the vote counted - it is a result few were expecting, as several recent surveys said the Yes vote would comfortably win.

The incumbent pro-EU president Maia Sandu earlier denounced the narrow result as the product of foreign interference in Moldovan politics.

She said it was an "unprecedented assault on democracy", referring to widespread allegations that Russia paid people to vote a certain way, which Moscow denies.

As well as the referendum on changing the constitution, Moldovans also voted in the country's presidential election on Sunday.

Mon 21 Oct 2024 11.02 BST

Moldovans have voted by a razor-thin majority in favour of joining the European Union, nearly final results showed on Monday after a pivotal referendum clouded by allegations of Russian interference.

On Sunday, Moldova held key votes in a presidential election and a referendum on EU membership, marking a critical moment in the continuing struggle between Russia and the west for control over the small, landlocked nation in eastern Europe, home to 2.5 million people.

After nearly 99% of votes were counted in the referendum that asked voters to choose whether to enshrine in the country’s constitution a path toward the EU, the “yes” vote crept into first place with 50.18% of a total 1.4 million ballots cast, according to the Central Electoral Commission.

The separate presidential election results showed the incumbent pro-western president, Maia Sandu, topped the first round of the vote with 41.91%. She will face her closest competitor, Alexandr Stoianoglo, a former prosecutor backed by the pro-Russian Socialists, in the second round in two weeks.

The double vote in one of Europe’s poorest countries was seen as a crucial test of Sandu’s pro-European agenda, as she had urged Moldovans to vote yes in the referendum to affirm EU accession as an “irreversible” constitutional goal. The tight referendum result will disappoint Sandu’s supporters and her allies in Brussels.

raklian wrote: ↑Sun Nov 03, 2024 9:21 pm

Time_Traveller wrote: ↑Sun Nov 03, 2024 9:31 pm

raklian wrote: ↑Sun Nov 03, 2024 9:21 pm

Glad Sandu is heading to win this, Russia's sphere of influence is definitely creeping into other counties elections and I hope this fails.