“The PAS regime is comfortable only with a ‘convenient’ opposition. This is why the Republican Party Heart of Moldova was removed from the elections and has been kept under restrictions for almost five months,” stated Irina Vlah, the party’s leader, announcing that she had addressed the diplomatic corps “so that the entire world can see how ‘justice’ actually functions in our country”, TRIBUNA reports. 

In the open letter addressed to the diplomatic corps accredited in the Republic of Moldova, the politician wrote: “This open letter is prompted by the fact that the authorities of the Republic of Moldova continue to flagrantly violate the rights of the Republican Party Heart of Moldova, which—without any evidence and without any legal basis—has had its activity restricted for more than four months. The restriction was applied as a precautionary measure during the examination of the case, until a final ruling is issued. Even though the law clearly states that such cases must be examined within two months, the Republican Party Heart of Moldova is abusively held hostage by the authorities, and the case at the Court of Appeal is marked by total uncertainty. This strengthens our conviction that the Republican Party Heart of Moldova is the victim of a perfidious political scheme orchestrated by the government back in 2025, with the aim of silencing us, given that through our activities we had become an inconvenient opponent for those in power.”

Irina Vlah then presented a chronology of events, which she says “clearly shows that actions were deliberate and abusive, aimed at excluding the Republican Party Heart of Moldova from active politics”:

• 13 June 2025: Parliament adopted Law No. 100/2025, amending several normative acts with the declared aim of combating electoral corruption. The law introduced major changes to the Law on Political Parties No. 294/2007, allowing the suspension or limitation of a political party’s activity—including during an electoral campaign—based on simple suspicions, until a final court ruling. The Public Services Agency was also granted the power to determine, based on formal criteria, which parties may participate in elections, significantly expanding its role in the electoral process.
• 18 August 2025: The Republican Party Heart of Moldova, as part of the Patriotic Electoral Bloc of Socialists, Communists, Heart and Future of Moldova, registered for the parliamentary elections of 28 September 2025, submitting 26 candidates.
• 17 September 2025: The Central Electoral Commission adopted Decision No. 3993, examining a complaint filed by another political party, invoking a criminal case (initiated on 2 September 2025) regarding alleged illegal financing involving certain party members—without considering the presumption of innocence. Based on this decision, the Ministry of Justice filed a request with the Chișinău Court of Appeal to limit the party’s activity for 12 months under Article 21(3²) of Law No. 294/2007.
• 25 September 2025: At the request of the Ministry of Justice, the Chișinău Court of Appeal applied a precautionary measure limiting the party’s activity until a final ruling. The Supreme Court of Justice later upheld this measure.
• 26 September 2025: Based on the court’s precautionary measure, the Central Electoral Commission adopted a decision excluding the 26 candidates of the Republican Party Heart of Moldova from the electoral bloc’s list and required the bloc to modify its list within 24 hours.

This decision was adopted after the legal deadline, as candidate lists may only be modified up to 10 days before election day. Despite this, the CEC made changes after the deadline, removing all candidates proposed by the Republican Party Heart of Moldova.

The party, together with the electoral bloc and several excluded candidates, challenged the CEC decision in court within the legal three-day period.

However, on 27 September 2025, the Chișinău Court of Appeal—upheld by the Supreme Court on 28 September 2025, election day—declared the action inadmissible, ruling that the CEC decision was not an administrative act but an administrative operation, and therefore not subject to judicial review.

As a result, the Republican Party Heart of Moldova was effectively deprived of its right to access justice, guaranteed by Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, as well as the right to an effective remedy under Article 13, since the exclusion of 26 candidates just two days before the elections was never examined on the merits.

Thus, based on a provisional precautionary measure—applied without a final court ruling—and under a law adopted only months before the elections, the party was removed from the electoral competition, and its candidates were excluded without being given the opportunity to present their defense or be heard.

After the elections, the restrictions continued, even though the legal deadlines had long expired. At present, the examination of the case is in complete uncertainty, and no one can say what will follow.

The politician noted that, given the serious violation of the party’s rights through arbitrary and discriminatory measures, the formation has also appealed to international institutions. On 12 November, the party addressed the Venice Commission, presenting the full factual and legal situation. On 19 January 2026, it submitted an application to the European Court of Human Rights.

At the end of the letter, Irina Vlah stated: “Dear representatives of the diplomatic corps, we reiterate our call for you to monitor, within the limits of your mandate, the extraordinary situation in which the Republican Party Heart of Moldova has found itself—nothing less than a grave abuse and a direct affront to democracy. We also respectfully ask you to inform the authorities of your countries about this case, in the hope that they will better understand the real state of democracy in the Republic of Moldova today.”