In less than three weeks, citizens of the Republic of Moldova will vote to elect the president and shape the country’s future. During this time, electoral corruption often increases, involving those who offer bribes and those who accept them. The legislation enforces significant fines of up to 37,000 lei.
Most cases of electoral corruption happen in the final days leading up to the elections, according to Nicolae Panfil, the director of programs at Promo-LEX, which monitors elections in our country. He explains, “We indeed see an increase in cases during the last days of the campaign, where services or benefits are offered to a community, an entire locality, or a group of people, rather than targeting specific individuals.”
“The Parliament has made changes to the Contraventional Code. Citizens can now face fines between 26,500 lei and 37,000 lei for accepting or soliciting money, goods, or services related to electoral activities. Moreover, citizens who self-report or help investigate these cases can potentially avoid penalties. If they know of such situations or have received money and voluntarily share that someone tried to offer it to them, they may be exempt from punishment,” said Nicolae Panfil.
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According to the expert, there are no conclusive outcomes for criminal cases related to electoral corruption in Moldova. He explained why:
“Until 2022-2023, there were hardly any cases or criminal files opened for electoral corruption for various reasons. First and foremost, this phenomenon is complicated to prove, and gathering evidence can take a long time. There may also have been insufficient political will to implement the legal framework and impose necessary sanctions. Additionally, there hasn’t been enough training for those tasked with investigating these cases, nor the courage to tackle such issues.
Only last year, in 2023, did we see some cases that reached the courts or were under prosecutors’ review regarding allegations of electoral corruption. However, we still don’t have conclusions in these situations. So, while there are many discussions and people are aware of the phenomenon, we have far fewer proven cases,” added Panfil.