Mr. Chair,
Norway congratulates Moldova on conducting successful parliamentary elections last Sunday in very challenging circumstances. We commend the election authorities for their efforts to ensure the integrity of the electoral process. We also commend the resilience shown by the citizens of Moldova faced with extensive disinformation and interference in the run-up to, and during the elections. Norway welcomes ODIHRs preliminary findings and conclusions, and highly appreciate the offices’ important work and mandate.
We are deeply concerned by the reports of unprecedented malign interference in the elections – including targeted cyber-attacks, illicit financing, vote buying schemes, disinformation campaigns and other subversive activities. We condemn the Russian Federation and its proxies’ role in the attempt to undermine the integrity of Moldova’s democratic process, as also reflected in the preliminary findings and conclusions of the OSCE/ODHIR. Such interference is in violation of our common commitments to free and fair elections and non-interference in internal affairs. Norway will continue to support Moldova in strengthening its democratic resilience and combatting disinformation and foreign malign interference.
I thank you.