Very few politicians in Gagauzia, an autonomous region of Moldova, would have dared to take on such a challenge. Trying to change the name of the main avenue of the city and move the statue of the same character that dominates the facade of the regional parliament: Vladimir Lenin. A project destined for a direct clash with the authorities of the regional entity - known for their affinity with Moscow - but also opposed to the opinion of a minority, the Gagauz people, who have always publicly expressed their nostalgia for the Soviet Union.
But Serghei Aanastasov is a completely atypical figure in this enclave, located in the southeast of Moldova. Despite his aversion to pro-Russian parties, in an environment dominated by the iconography and ideology of that country, Aanastasov has won the municipal elections in the main city inhabited by the Gagauz people three times in a row.
"Here the antichrist, Ilan Shor - a magnate exiled in Russia and accused of being the main pro-Russian destabilization agent in Moldova - bases his entire strategy on buying votes. It didn't work with me. But these elections are much more important. We cannot turn our backs on Europe," he asserts in front of the polling station where he has just cast his ballot.
Aanastasov's voice, a reference when it comes to local issues, is a preaching in the desert when Gagauzia voters think in national terms. He himself acknowledges that he does not expect the votes for the pro-European parties that have competed in Sunday's legislative elections in Moldova to exceed 10% of the votes in the autonomy.
"In the referendum (to decide whether or not to join the European Union) they only got 5%. It would already be double that," he states, entrenched in that overflowing optimism that makes him persist in his quixotic ideology.
Divided in an antagonistic way between politicians like Aanastasov, who support the project of integrating into the European Union led by the Government of the Action and Solidarity Party (PAS) of President Maia Sandu, and those who prefer to align with Moscow, Moldova went to the polls on Sunday in decisive elections to predict the future of the country.
The PAS has obtained an absolute majority, with 50.1% of the votes, while the pro-Russian Patriotic Electoral Bloc obtained 24.2%. The Alternative Bloc, favorable to Russia, came in third place, followed by the populist Our Party. The right-wing Democracy at Home party also garnered enough votes to enter Parliament.
The turnout in these legislative elections ended up around 52%, approaching the record set in last year's presidential elections, and surpassing the figures of the last legislative election dating back to 2021.
Immediately after the vote, Dodon called for a "peaceful" protest for this Monday under the assumption that the PAS planned to cancel the results as happened in the Romanian presidential elections last year. "Be prepared tomorrow (Monday) to defend our victory. It is evident that the opposition will win these parliamentary elections. We must not allow our votes to be annulled," Dodon stated.
The pro-Russian politician said that the PAS government "is in panic" and urged the security forces to "not scare the population" and to "not destabilize". Dodon's words were related to the announcement by the Moldovan police, who arrested three people accused of preparing disturbances and warned that they had "information about groups of people who will try to organize disorders in the capital".
Dodon's statements escalated tension after an electoral day that was overshadowed by a massive cyberattack against a large number of official websites of the country, especially the Central Electoral Commission, which oversees the elections. According to the IPN agency, technical teams managed to block the digital offensive, which managed to disable 4,000 websites.
The cyber onslaught was combined with successive bomb threats received at half a dozen polling stations located in foreign countries - including Spain - and in Moldovan localities where Transnistria residents were supposed to vote, the separatist territory that has remained outside Chisinau's control since 1992.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the country released a statement implicitly accusing Moscow of being behind these actions. "It is part of Russia's assault on the electoral process," the text read. The opposition responded by pointing to the authorities as responsible for the false alerts that affected the Transnistria voters, who are considered pro-Russian.
The votes of the diaspora were decisive in determining both the presidential elections and the referendum on Moldova's possible integration into the EU last year. Both calls confirmed the extreme polarization of Moldovan society, literally divided in two. In the first round, Maia Sandu lost in the interior of the country by only garnering 48.81% of the votes against 51.19% for her opponent, Alexander Stoyanoglo. A result that was reversed by the votes from abroad, which were 82.71% in favor of the current head of state.
In Gagauzia, for example, Stoyanoglo obtained an overwhelming 97% of the ballots, highlighting the complete disconnection of the autonomy from Chisinau. The consultation on the EU followed the same script and only won by a handful of votes from abroad. The difference in favor of the pro-Europeans was about 11,600 ballots. 95% of the Gagauzia electorate voted against getting closer to Brussels, as the mayor of Comrat recalled.
Perhaps that is why Maia Sandu delivered several speeches to expatriates during the day, using an emotional tone that symbolizes the spirit that has dominated the entire campaign, both on the opposition side and among the ranks of PAS. "Your honest vote can save Moldova. It is our country, not Ilan Shor's criminal group. Prove that you are stronger than dirty money!," she stated in one of these speeches.
A former parliamentarian and allegedly responsible for the theft of $1 billion from the banking system, Ilan Shor has not stopped promoting agitation against Sandu's government from his Russian exile and has been accused of promoting political corruption through generous gifts.
Just as the ballots of the community residing outside the borders seemed crucial to reinforce Sandu's and her allies' chances, the Patriotic Bloc - aligned with Moscow - and other groups of the same ideology placed their hopes on voters from places like the aforementioned Gagauzia, the thousands of residents of Transnistria who hold Moldovan passports, and the Russian community living in the northern part of the country, around the third-largest city in the country, Balti.
The persistent presence of Lenin's image, the T-34 tank - a persistent relic in most cities in Moscow's orbit - adorned with the slogan "Glory to the liberators" praising the Soviet army's participation in the liberation of Comrat from Nazi occupation in 1944, or the majority use of Russian and Cyrillic over Romanian, are a reflection of the spirit that dominates Gagauzia and places it closer to the separatist region of Transnistria than to Chisinau.
In fact, this population of just over 100,000 people of Turkish origin but Orthodox Christian religion "separated" from Moldova even before Transnistria, in 1989, while witnessing the collapse of the USSR. During that period, Moldovans also revived nationalist fervor under the leadership of the Popular Front, which promoted the restoration of Romanian as the official language, Latin characters instead of Cyrillic, and the national flag, very similar to the Romanian one.
"They were years of nationalist climax and both sides made many mistakes. There were voices in Moldova calling for unification with Romania, and in Gagauzia, the image of that country is still associated with the soldiers from Bucharest who captured that territory during World War II, allies of Nazi Germany," explains an expert in the southern region who prefers to remain anonymous. At 78 years old, one of the "founders" of the now extinct - but not forgotten - Republic of Gagauzia, Konstantin Tausanci, acknowledges that the project was a reaction that must be placed in the historical context of the end of the Soviet Union. "We were all very nationalistic. The Gagauz people wanted to protect our culture and language. The Moldovans did not grant us autonomy, so we declared independence," he asserts on his farm on the outskirts of Comrat. The decision in Comrat almost led to a bloody conflict like the one that did occur in Transnistria. The Moldovan president at the time, Mircea Snegur, called for the mobilization of "volunteers" who marched by the tens of thousands towards Comrat. The Gagauz people requested assistance from the Russian military still present in the area. "There was a Russian general who stepped onto the stage in the middle of a public meeting in Comrat and told us: do not be afraid, we will send you weapons. And two days later, cars with weapons arrived. I realized it was all a provocation. Moscow wanted to create a confrontation between Moldovans and Gagauz people. It was a trap," points out Tausanci, a former economics professor. Tausanci met with Mikhail Gorbachev, the aforementioned Snegur, and with the less conciliatory Gagauz leaders until the desire for a state transformed into reintegration into Moldova as an autonomy in 1995. In a time when wars were fought for the same reasons in places like Transnistria, South Ossetia, or Nagorno-Karabakh, Gagauzia avoided that tragic fate despite the presence of militias and agitators of all kinds. "Only three people died. Common sense prevailed," adds Tausanci. However, in an era where logic is no longer a highly valued trait, it was only a matter of time before irrational emotions resurfaced.
Clashes with the Central Government
The formal start of the association process of Moldova with the European Union in 2013 and the subsequent instability generated by Russian intervention in Ukraine the following year revived instability in the small autonomous region, whose leaders somewhat revived the separatist spirit of the 90s, even organizing a referendum in February 2014 where the locals overwhelmingly voted to remain in Moscow's orbit and even declare their independence once again. Clashes between the central government and the autonomous authorities have been recurring over the years, especially after Maia Sandu came to power. "I am very saddened by this reality. Look, the only country investing in Gagauzia is Turkey. If Erdogan (the President of Turkey) ran against Putin (the President of Russia) in Gagauzia, Putin would win. We have lost our language (a Turkish dialect) and now we speak Russian, and the Soviet mentality has become ingrained in our minds," Tausanci opines before heading to vote. Tausanci is part of Gagauzia's past. Those who shape its present, politicians like Dmitrii Constantinov, president of the autonomous parliament, prefer the trench. The Gagauz leader accuses Chisinau of organizing "very dirty elections, full of garbage." "There are elections, but everything is rigged," he indicates. All voters interviewed at the polling station next to the parliament agree with his opinion. For Nikolae, a 76-year-old veteran, Sandu promotes "political repression" and "undemocratic ways." The residents of Comrat bitterly complain about all opposition politicians who have ended up disqualified or even arrested on various charges. Among them is the main regional leader, Evghenia Gutul, sentenced to seven years in prison for illegal financing. "Chisinau does not want to hear the voices of the Gagauz people. They only suppress our rights. They have banned political parties one day before the elections!" Nikolae adds, referring to the fact that the Central Electoral Commission disqualified two opposition parties just hours before the vote. According to Sergei Cernev, a former sympathizer of Gagauz separatism now turned representative of the central power in Chisinau, his native region is "controlled by a mafia group", led by the perennial Ilan Shor, "who invests millions to buy loyalties." "They use an SMS system, which they activated in July. Since then, they pay beneficiaries a small monthly allowance. Around 2,000 lei (about 100 euros). On the day of the vote, they send an SMS telling them which party to vote for. They used to pay in cash, but intermediaries kept a lot of money. They changed two years ago in the regional elections. Shor's ultimate goal has always been to destabilize Moldova through Gagauzia," he concludes.