The Court of Appeal Rejects the Appeals by Igor Dodon Who Accuses Moldova 1 of Electoral Canvassing on the Day of the Presidential Elections

The Court of Appeal rejected the appeals filed by Igor Dodon, President of the Party of Socialists, regarding the alleged violations committed by the Moldova 1 public TV channel on the day of the second round of the presidential elections. The decision was made on November 13.

On November 5, Igor Dodon, President of the Party of Socialists (PSRM), filed two appeals with the Central Electoral Commission which were subsequently redirected to the Broadcasting Council (BC), in which he requested admitting the fact that, on November 3, during the second round of the presidential elections, the Moldova 1 public TV channel had aired two interviews in which electoral canvassing had allegedly been taking place. These are the interviews with Egor Bortnik, the Bi-2 band member, and the Latvian singer Laima Vaikule. Because the two musicians had spoken about the advantages of joining the European Union, the PSRM believed that they had been campaigning in favor of candidate Maia Sandu, “which gave her considerable advantage.”

In its decision on November 8, the BC rejected Igor Dodon’s appeals, stating that “no candidate’s name was mentioned in those programs.” In addition, after analyzing Maia Sandu’s and Alexandr Stoianoglo’s electoral programs, the broadcasting authority announced that both candidates supported the European integration of the Republic of Moldova. “Therefore, the appellant’s argument stating it was promoting a particular candidate cannot be confirmed,” the Council concluded.

Dissatisfied with the BC’s decision, on November 11, Igor Dodon addressed the court. In their decision, the judges of the Court of Appeal stated that, in order to confirm “electoral canvassing, it is mandatory to reveal the purpose of determining voters to vote for a particular candidate, yet it is missing in the programs indicated by the plaintiff.” According to the magistrates, the aired interviews “are of a general nature, and their content does not include any appeals, statements, or actions aimed at spreading information which could persuade voters to vote for a particular election candidate.”

In its response to the BC, Teleradio-Moldova recalls that, during the electoral debates of October 29, 2024, Alexandr Stoianoglo offered Maia Sandu to sign a joint declaration “to guarantee irreversibility of the European integration course of the Republic of Moldova.” For this reason, Moldova 1 considers that “promoting European integration as a desirable goal did not favor or disfavor any election candidate in the second round of the presidential elections.”