TRIBUNA continues its project presenting the political events that took place exactly one year ago. This time, we recall what happened on September 28, 2025.

Parliamentary Election Day

Parliamentary elections were held in the Republic of Moldova. Voters cast their ballots at 2,274 polling stations, of which 1,973 were located in the Republic of Moldova, including 12 polling stations for residents of the left bank of the Dniester, and 301 polling stations opened abroad, four of which were dedicated to postal voting.

Polling stations were open from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. More than 3.6 million ballots were printed for the election, including 865,000 distributed to polling stations abroad. The ballot included 23 electoral contestants.

At a briefing at the end of election day, the Central Electoral Commission announced that more than 1.5 million registered voters had cast their ballots, representing a turnout of more than 52%. Under the Electoral Code, parliamentary elections could be declared valid if at least one-third of registered voters participated. The CEC confirmed the validity of the election.

The First Vote

The first vote in the parliamentary elections was cast at the Embassy of the Republic of Moldova in Tokyo. Ana Teișanu, a student at the University of Tsukuba in Japan, opened the diaspora voting process, emphasizing that “Moldova’s future is written through every honest vote.”

Information from the Reintegration Policy Bureau

During the first part of the day, the Reintegration Policy Bureau (BPR) reported that the situation in the Security Zone remained calm and stable, with no significant changes.

The flow of people and vehicles through the internal customs posts continued normally, while the situation on the ground was monitored and managed by the competent authorities.

Public Services Agency Activity

All multifunctional centers of the Public Services Agency (ASP) operated according to a special schedule, from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.

At the request of citizens over the age of 18 who did not have the identity documents required to exercise their right to vote, provisional identity cards were issued free of charge. Citizens were also able to collect identity documents that had already been prepared.

AUR Announcement

The Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) in the Republic of Moldova announced that, amid information about possible attempts at external infiltration and influence over the electoral process, the party had decided to withdraw all of its representatives from polling stations established abroad.

Supreme Court Decision

The Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ) declared inadmissible the appeal filed by the Political Party “Moldova Mare,” thereby upholding the decision of the Central Electoral Commission to cancel the registration of the electoral contestant.

To implement the decision, district electoral councils and polling station bureaus were to mark “Withdrawn” next to the “Moldova Mare” party on pre-printed vote-counting forms. Ballots marked “Voted” next to the “Moldova Mare” party were also to be declared invalid.

Calls to Vote

The country’s top officials — Maia Sandu, Igor Grosu and Dorin Recean — as well as several political leaders, including Ion Ceban, Igor Dodon, Irina Vlah, Ion Chicu, Renato Usatîi, Tudor Ulianovschi and Alexandr Stoianoglo, cast their votes during the day and made statements to the press.

The politicians urged citizens to actively participate in the election.

Thanks to Citizens

After polling stations closed across the country, the leadership of the Party of Action and Solidarity, the Patriotic Electoral Bloc, the “Alternative” Bloc and “Our Party” held press briefings in which they thanked citizens for participating actively in the election and for voting for them.

President Maia Sandu also thanked citizens in a message posted on social media.

Statement by the Patriotic Electoral Bloc

The Patriotic Electoral Bloc strongly condemned what it described as provocations related to the blocking and alleged “mining” of polling stations designated for citizens from the Transnistrian region.

The bloc characterized these actions as a deliberate attempt to sabotage the electoral process and deprive tens of thousands of citizens of their constitutional right to vote.

PNM Announcement

The Moldovan National Party (PNM) announced that it would not delegate members to polling stations inside the country or abroad, citing risks related to the infiltration of individuals allegedly recruited by Russian special services.

Candidate List Modified

The Central Electoral Commission adopted a new decision modifying the candidate list of the Patriotic Electoral Bloc of Socialists, Communists, Heart of Moldova and Moldova’s Future for the September 28, 2025 parliamentary elections.

As a result, the list was reduced from 110 to 80 candidates.

Bomb Alerts at Several Polling Stations

Several polling stations abroad temporarily suspended their activity during the day following bomb alerts, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Chișinău announced.

The incidents were reported in Brussels, Belgium; Rome and Genoa, Italy; Bucharest, Romania; Asheville, United States; and Alicante, Spain. The alerts proved to be false.

Police Announcement

Police were notified about the organized transportation of voters from the Russian Federation to Belarus, an action that was contrary to national legislation. Police announced that they were investigating the case.

Pavel Durov’s Statements

Telegram founder Pavel Durov said in a post on his platform that, a year earlier, French intelligence services had allegedly asked him, through intermediaries, to block several Moldovan channels ahead of Moldova’s presidential election.

He said that several channels violating Telegram’s rules had been removed, but not channels that were legitimate yet “politically inconvenient” for the governments in Paris and Chișinău.

Promo-LEX Findings

The Promo-LEX Election Observation Mission for the September 28, 2025 parliamentary elections held several briefings throughout the day.

By 10:30 p.m., 1,135 cases had been recorded as incidents. According to observers, of the 514 polling stations monitored by static observers at closing time, only 18 did not close at 9:00 p.m.

Most Promo-LEX observers assessed the overall atmosphere at polling stations throughout election day as good or very good.

STISC Announcement

The Information Technology and Cyber Security Service (STISC) announced that several attempts to carry out cyberattacks against Moldova’s electoral infrastructure had been recorded on September 27–28, 2025.

The targets included the CEC.md platform, government cloud services and process-automation systems, as well as several voting stations in the diaspora.

Initial Results

Shortly after polling stations closed, the Central Electoral Commission published the first preliminary results.

At that stage, five political forces were projected to enter Parliament: the Party of Action and Solidarity, the Patriotic Electoral Bloc, the “Democracy at Home” Party, “Our Party,” and the “Alternative” Bloc.

Source: Political Almanac 2025