The leader of Heart of Moldova has accused the government of political persecution

Moldova's Central Election Commission has banned an opposition party from taking part in this weekend's parliamentary elections, local media reported Friday.

The government in Chisinau has a history of going after its political opponents under the banner of countering "Russian influence."

A day earlier, a court backed the government's request to suspend the Heart of Moldova party, which it accused of electoral manipulation. The targeted party's president, Irina Vlah, has accused the government of using "lawfare" as part of a broader crackdown on political opponents.

The elimination hurts the ballot prospects of the Patriotic Electoral Bloc, a coalition of several parties that Vlah co-founded in a bid to remove the ruling Action and Solidarity party of President Maia Sandu from power.

The CEC cited the court, adding that under the ruling, all candidates designated by Heart of Moldova will be removed from the race. It gave the Patriotic Bloc 24 hours to adjust its lists accordingly.

Sandu, a staunch pro-EU politician who often claims her opponents are Russian agents backed by organized crime, has described the Sunday elections as a make-or-break moment for Moldova. Moscow has dismissed her claims that it was secretly funding challengers to her party's parliamentary majority as "ridiculous."

Last October, Sandu won a new term as president in what critics have described as a flawed election, in which the votes of Moldovans living in the European Union nations secured her victory.

Moscow accused Chisinau of denying thousands of Moldovan citizens living in Russia access to the ballot box by seriously restricting the number of polling stations.

Vlah is the former head of Gagausia, an autonomous Moldovan region where support for Sandu is particularly low. Her successor Evgenia Gutsul, elected in 2023, was found guilty in August of election finance crimes in a politically charged trial which she claimed reflects the Sandu government's abuse of the justice system.

(RT.com)