On July 11, in Europe, the citizens of two states will elect their Parliaments. Bulgaria, an EU member state, will repeatedly mobilize to elect its Legislative after three failed rounds since the last elections in April on the appointment of a Government by the newly elected Parliament. Moldova, where, likewise, the Parliament that had a full mandate failed to vote for a new Government, will also have elections on July 11. What similarities would there be between Bulgaria and Moldova? Probably more, but the most impressive resemblance is the increased level of corruption in both countries. However, Bulgaria has the upper hand in the EU, and Moldova is a “leader” in corruption in the EU’s immediate neighborhood.

The inability of the Parliaments of these states to choose the central executive institutions shows that the corrupt prefer chaos, lawlessness, injustice, that they do not care how people are doing, thinking that only they should have a future. Although in different languages, in Sofia and Chișinău, the corrupt promote the same message: rule with us or there will be chaos.

Corruption in Bulgaria has become the target of tough action by the US in recent weeks, with mafia clans included in the list of those subject to sanctions by Western states under the Magnitsky Law. In addition, the European Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, headed by prosecutor Laura Kövesi, has been active since 1 June, monitoring how European money circulates in the world, investigating large-scale corruption in the EU Member States.

In Moldova, political parties are still loyal to this phenomenon and resort to any methods only to perpetuate corruption in everyday life. Form or revive parties, form electoral blocs, draft dubious laws, control justice and prosecution … Do you think that the recent events, related to the number of polling stations to be opened abroad, in order to ensure the right to vote for members of the Diaspora, has nothing to do with corruption? There is a lot of talk about the long distances between polling stations, distances that involve a waste of time and big expenses. On the other hand, on the financial occasion, borne by voters, there is talk about the lines that are formed on election day, and about the risk that there could be an insufficient number of ballots … In reality, all this is a consequence of the fact that the governments so far want to control the votes not only of those who live in Moldova for the time being, but also of those who have long since left home, but for whom their homeland still matters. These people would probably return home, if they were not afraid of corruption, of the “institutions” of bribery, which works in all spheres, of the fact that they risk losing the money earned through hard work, trying to invest them in a corrupt Moldova.

Those who do not want to give up power have intuition. They know that tens of thousands of people in bitter loneliness from abroad have no way to vote for them and they try to block their intentions.

On the other hand, on the occasion of each election, the subject of the number of polling stations and ballot papers for the Diaspora is equally topical and problematic. If we keep talking that about one million citizens would be outside the Republic of Moldova, the 100 thousand, registered to participate in the elections of July 11, seem incredibly few. We admit that those who know that they will not travel thousands of kilometres to a polling station have not registered anyway. One solution would be to implement electronic voting, a process that drags on. Because of some interests? Because of some disinterest?

13 years ago, the Parliament of Moldova adopted the Concept of the State Automated Information System “Elections”. It was promised that in 8 years, ie starting with 2016, anyone will be able to vote online from anywhere in the world. Subsequently, the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) included the goal of implementing the online voting system by the end of 2022. Do you think this is a real deadline? Do you think that the CEC will honour its commitment?