Reacting to the results of the second round of the presidential elections in Moldova on November 3, 2024, which were won by Maia Sandu, pro-Russian media and politicians called her the “president of the diaspora”. They justify this formulation by the fact that without the votes of the Moldovan diaspora, the incumbent president would have lost the elections.

According to the Central Electoral Commission, within Moldova, the candidate of the pro-Russian Socialist Party, Alexandru Stoianoglo, who received 51.19% of the votes, actually beat Sandu (48.81%) by 32 thousand votes. However, taking into account the votes of the diaspora, it was Maia Sandu who won a convincing victory in the second round of the presidential elections with a lag of almost 11% (55.35% versus 44.65%).

Such reproaches towards Maia Sandu are part of Russian information influence and a kind of protest, since obviously the victory of a pro-European and pro-Western presidential candidate was not part of the Kremlin’s plans.

The day before, Russia interfered in the elections in Moldova, trying to influence their results. In particular, in Moldova, television showed an investigation by journalists from the Ziarul de Gardă portal about how the Shor pro-Russian party bribed citizens with money from Moscow. As for Russian information influence in Moldova, the Center for Counteracting Disinformation wrote that throughout the election campaign, Russia carried out information attacks on the Moldovan authorities and provocations.

The use of the term “president of the diaspora” by pro-Russian actors is to discredit the victory of Moldovan President Maia Sandu. To affirm that she is now an “illegitimate president”.

Read on Censor.NET: propaganda about elections in Moldova