CHISINAU -- Authorities in Moldova are urging people to ignore a "massive attack of fake messages and calls" telling them they will receive payments in exchange for voting for President Maia Sandu in the November 3 presidential runoff.
The authorities said on November 1 that citizens are receiving massive numbers of e-mails urging them to vote for Sandu, the pro-European Union candidate, and will be financially compensated later.
Parallel to these messages, citizens are receiving calls saying those who vote for Sandu will receive 1,500 lei ($84). Thousands of cases were registered in just one hour on November 1, the law enforcement officers said.
The General Police Inspectorate said it had already uncovered the number and the country from which the calls originated, and officers were establishing the addresses from which the e-mails were sent.
The messages were also denounced by representatives of Sandu’s Party of Action and Solidarity, which notified the authorities about them.
Police said they were carrying out searches in 13 districts of the country on suspicion of illegal financing and electoral corruption.
SEE ALSO: Moldovan Police Accuse Pro-Russian Oligarch Of $39M Vote-Buying SchemeSandu is running for a second term against Moscow-friendly Alexandr Stoianoglo amid reports of Russian interference, which the Kremlin denies. The incumbent has repeatedly accused Russia of interference in Moldova's electoral process.
She said the first round of balloting on October 20 came under an "unprecedented" assault from "criminal groups" that tried to buy as many as 300,000 votes with tens of millions of euros in an attempt to "undermine a democratic process."
Moldovan law calls for fines of up to 37,500 lei ($2,100) for vote-selling, but people who cooperate with the investigation can escape penalty. Authorities said that fines levied for electoral corruption in the last two weeks amount to approximately 3.5 million lei ($197,000).
The head of Moldova's Election Commission announced on November 1 that several officials overseeing the first round of the country's presidential election had been accused of corruption and would be replaced for the runoff.
"Some members of election commissions, including chairpersons, secretaries, and clerks are included in documents put together by police and prosecutors," commission head Angela Caraman said in a statement. "Some of them have already been removed from electoral bodies."
The Kremlin said earlier on November 1 that Russia was monitoring the Moldovan presidential election but was not interfering.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Moscow strongly denied allegations it had been trying to meddle in the vote and questioned the way in which the authorities in Moldova had been overseeing the campaign.