Moldova said "yes" of the European Union, but the referendum went very hard. No one expected these results, rather a bigger lead. Both citizens within the state and the diaspora voted. The results of the former showed 45% "for", while Moldovans abroad strongly supported European integration, they tipped the scales. This is what he said on the air of "Your Day" Mihai Peykov - executive director of the Center for Civic Initiatives for National Minorities in Moldova.
"We want to be part of the European family. For me, the poll results are not indicative because there was a lot of fake news and propaganda. The biggest surprise is that 31% of the population of Transnistria said "yes" of the EU, while Gagauzia and Taraklia, for example, showed less support", he is categorical.
However, according to him, there was recruitment of people with false propaganda. "Moldovan oligarch Ilan Shor, who fled to Moscow, created a political bloc "Pobeda", which buys votes and does not hide it. Each activist receives from 50 to 150 euros. These people used to go to Moscow to get $5 to $10,000 in cash, then this money was used to buy votes," Peykov explained.
In the referendum held in Moldova on joining the European Union, with 99.41 percent of the votes counted as "yes" 50.39 percent of voters voted, and with "no" – 49.16 percent, according to the data of the Central Election Commission.
For his part, the journalist from "Dnevnik" Petar Karaboev pointed out that Moldova is as big as Sofia. "We should be interested in it because it is one of the countries from the former USSR that Europe is trying to attract. This is the poorest country among them, it will be easily convinced if the Russian narrative is overcome. Its geopolitical fate is being decided by Moldovans abroad, the majority of whom are pro-European. Russian propaganda is very strong there. Moscow did not bet on a specific candidate, Maya Sandu's opponent is a former prosecutor, very boring. Rather, they are working to destabilize the country than to attract them to Russian rhetoric, there was no such campaign," he commented.
BNT journalist Nikolay Krastev, in turn, explained that Moldova has an important geopolitical significance. "Through it, Russian influence is being tested, together with Georgia. Both countries have a regional dimension. There was interesting information that professional protesters were trained in Serbia and Bosnia, they were supposed to cause disturbances on election day in order to sow chaos, he noted.