Moldova's Commission for Exceptional Situations (CSE) has decided to bar the Chance party's candidates from taking part in local elections this weekend for allegedly using illegal money from Russia in the campaign, Prime Minister Dorin Recean said on November 3.
The decision was made just two days before the November 5 local elections "for reasons of state security" and a "hybrid war" being waged by Russia against Moldova, Recean told reporters.
Election authorities are to inform candidates of the Chance party that they have been excluded from the electoral race. The word "withdrawn" will appear on ballots in place of the party name.
A state of emergency declared in Moldova due to the war in Ukraine allows the government to make such decisions, bypassing the usual mechanisms. It is not immediately clear if the decision can be contested.
The CSE's decision was announced after the Intelligence and Security Service said it had documented several schemes through which the Chance party had received money from Russia and from citizens of third countries, including Kazakhstan and Turkey.
Recean said that it was the first time in the history of Moldova that Russia had started buying elections, handing out money for candidates, votes, and election officials.
"We have an enemy actor from outside -- the Russian Federation -- who with these huge sums and paid through an organized cross-border criminal network, wants to destroy the Republic of Moldova," he said.
The Chance party replaced the Shor Party earlier this year after the latter was banned in June for alleged actions against the sovereignty of Moldova inspired by Kremlin.
SEE ALSO: Flipping The Channels: Moldova Faces A Huge Challenge Countering Pro-Kremlin PropagandaMoldovan authorities on October 4 reinforced the ban with a CSE decision that said members of the party who have been charged, indicted, or those who are under suspicion of committing criminal acts would not be allowed to run in the November 5 polls.
Recean said activities had been identified that were meant to influence the electoral processes to promote the interests of Russia "through an organized group led by Ilan Șhor through the Chance political party."
The leader of the Chance party, Alexei Lungu, reacted by saying that his party was under attack, and Shor, who lives in self-imposed exile in Israel, said that the money was from his business, not from Russia.
Shor has been accused by the West and the Moldovan government of trying to destabilize the country.
Wedged between Ukraine and Romania, Moldova has often found itself in the center of a struggle for influence between Moscow and the West.
The situation has intensified since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, especially with the Kremlin-backed breakaway region of Transdniester on its eastern border. Russia keeps more than 1,000 troops in Transdniester as peacekeepers.