The government "ventured" in an electoral exercise necessary for the Republic of Moldova, but extremely dangerous to carry out without having abolished "this criminal group", which, being directed by Russia, buys the voters' votes, says political analyst Igor Boțan in the "Beyond the News" podcast. And because it did not take sufficient measures to block the activity of this criminal structure, led by the fugitive oligarch Ilan Șor, the Republic of Moldova is currently in an unprecedented situation, being a testing ground for the Russian Federation, political analyst Nicolae continues Negru, the podcast's second permanent guest. According to him, in this election campaign, the Kremlin "experienced" various mechanisms and schemes to undermine the democracy of the Republic of Moldova, which it has never used anywhere before. "There, in Moscow, there are laboratories that think up all kinds of schemes. Promsviazbank did not get involved because Sor asked the governor to get involved. This thing was not done without the indication from above. It's a state bank, it's no joke," Nicolae Negru also said. The series of mistakes committed by the PAS government can be continued with the method of selecting cadres in state institutions, which was also flawed and which explains the communication deficiencies both with other pro-European political forces, which felt marginalized , as well as with the whole society, continues the commentator Nicolae Negru. "The current government feels like it's in an ivory castle, in a crystal palace where not even a cold wind can reach it. Unfortunately, we see that only after the results of these elections and the referendum do they show signs that they want to communicate", continued Igor Boțan, according to whom the "unexpected" result of the referendum is not so unexpected. Opinion polls, according to Igor Boțan, showed since February a decrease in the Moldovans' option for integration into the European Union, and this should have alarmed the authorities. "Citizens' desire to join the EU has dropped to 50%, but the signal has been easily missed." Another important factor, which the ruling party, as well as the other pro-European political forces, did not take into account, is the political culture of the population of the Republic of Moldova, which, according to opinion polls, shows that almost half of the population is not interested of politics. This disinterest, the commentator also says, suited the criminal groups, who "exploited poverty and people's disinterest in politics with electoral gifts." Other themes of the new episode, recorded on October 24: 🔸After the elections, the authorities, as well as the acting president, Maia Sandu, announced about electoral fraud in particularly large proportions, which threatened the state's democracy. Hundreds of people have already been documented, and the National Anticorruption Center announced that the sanctions applied for this crime would amount to a total of approximately 1 million lei. 🔸On Sunday, the first electoral debates will take place between the two remaining candidates in the presidential race. What questions should they answer to convince the electorate to vote for them. 🔸Western leaders congratulated the Moldovans for their vote in favor of European integration. Only enthusiastic appreciations, of encouragement or also room for caution or even concern? 🔸And how can the higher percentage of the pro-European vote among Transnistrian residents in the referendum be explained, in contrast to the overwhelmingly anti-European one in the Gagauz autonomy or substantially in other regions? To what limit of naturalness are the more than 20 percent of the NO votes in the diaspora? The podcast is published on the Free Europe website - https://bit.ly/3KRR8th on Apple Podcasts - https://bit.ly/3BjVRzC and on Spotify - https://bit.ly/3VHV0AI *** ✔️ Subscribe Follow Free Europe on social networks: Facebook - / europalibera.org Instagram - / europalibera Odnoklassniki - https://ok.ru/group/52203659460797 🌐 Visit our website for the latest news and reports - https:// moldova.europalibera.org/ 📜 We are glad that you participate in our debates and write comments, but please respect some rules: 1. We do not want to limit in any way the freedom of thought and expression, but we reserve the right to delete from forum statements that may have legal consequences, that are defamatory, obscene, indecent, abusive, violent, pornographic, threatening, discriminatory, hateful or illegal. 2. The discussion forum cannot be used for commercial purposes. 3. Do not knowingly post any material that may constitute copyright infringement. 4. Comments must be, for the most part, in Romanian and Russian.