Voters from Transnistria waiting to cast their ballots in the Moldovan elections. Image courtesy of Ziarul de Garda. Several voters from the breakaway region of Transnistria say they received money to vote for the Electoral Bloc of Communists and Socialists in the Moldovan parliamentary election held on 11 July. Some received the money before exercising their right to vote, and others after returning from the polls and presenting the ballot with the “voted” stamp on it. Others received the money they were promised from election observers. In Moldova’s snap elections on July 11, 2021 the pro-Western Action and Solidarity Party founded by current President Maia Sandu won comfortably, gaining 63 of the 101 seats in parliament. The Electoral Bloc of Communists and Socialists (BECS), led by former presidents Vladimir Voronin and Igor Dodon, in a serious setback, won just 32 seats. Transnistria (or Pridnestrovie) is a breakaway state on the border of Moldova and Ukraine that separated from Moldova in the early 1990s amid an armed conflict. The global community and Moldova do not recognize the de facto state of Transnistria, but consider it an autonomous territorial unit within Moldova with special legal status. In September 2016, the authorities of self-proclaimed Transnistria held a referendum, as a result of which they began preparations for joining the Russian Federation. Russian peacekeeping forces have had a long-standing presence in the republic, and the situation around Transnistria is often characterized as a “frozen conflict.” The special missions that monitored last month’s electoral process also took note of allegations concerning other material rewards, and the organized transportation of voters, especially at polling stations open to citizens of the Transnistria region. The scheme is already well known from past elections. After being put on a list, the people (whose votes were bought) were transported to polling stations by private car or taxi. The money was distributed on the way to the polling stations, while the people were in the cars, or as they left polling places. Some people openly admitted that they had sold their vote. Groups on messaging apps that include people from the left bank of the Dniester river (Transnistria) say employees of private and public bodies in Transnistria were urged to vote for the Communist and Socialist bloc in exchange for money. There are also allegations that lists [of people willing to sell their votes] were drawn up all over the breakaway region at the suggestion of managers of such institutions. The early parliamentary elections had a turnout of 28,000 people at the 41 polling stations open to voters on the left bank of the Dniester. Sixty-two percent of them voted for the Electoral Bloc of Communists and Socialists. Many who voted for Vladimir Voronin and Igor Dodon took part in electoral tourism in the form of organized trips to polling stations on the right bank of the Dniester (Moldova proper). Along the lines of a scheme applied in past elections, some voters sold their vote in exchange for 200, 400, or even 500 Moldovan lei ($11–$28). On election day, Dumitru Iancev, who lives in Tighina (a city in Transnistria, also known as Bender), said he learned of a group of people involved in voting fraud. In a video Iancev recorded in front of a store in Tighina, a man asks someone if “there will be a bus,” with the reply that “it will be only a taxi and only on registrations,” a hint at electoral tourism. The woman who made the lists of potential vote sellers, Vera, says she called everyone whose phone numbers she had from the last elections: “I called everyone’s number.” Iancev, a former judge who worked in courts in Tighina and Taraclia (a city in southern Moldova), became aware of the scheme during the 2020 presidential election. For the July elections, he managed to be put on the lists [of people willing to sell their votes], was part of an organized transport to a polling station, and received 200 Moldovan lei ($11) for his vote. Iancev reported the situation to the police, offering as proof the 200 lei and an invitation to the polls bearing the BECS logo. A criminal case was opened based on his complaint. Also in Transnistria, there were cases of voters leaving polling stations outraged because they didn’t receive the promised amount for their vote. One woman emerged from the polling station in tears of disappointment. Another voter from Causeni district (in central Moldova) was also in search of the promised 500 Transnistrian rubles, the equivalent of about 550 Moldovan lei ($30), which he was promised in exchange for a vote for BECS.