Romanian Party Starts Sit-In Outside Moldovan Security Service

Members and supporters of the Alliance for Romanian Unity, AUR, set up several tents on Tuesday evening in front of the Intelligence and Security Service, SIS headquarters in Chisinau in protest against alleged interference in its political activities.

The AUR, a right-wing party from Romania which is seeking reunification with Moldova, decided to participate in the parliamentary election in Moldova scheduled for July 11 after obtaining an unexpectedly high 9.08 per cent of the vote in the parliamentary election in Romania in December 2020. 

The Central Electoral Commission, CEC sent a request to the SIS on Monday to investigate alleged external financing and foreign involvement in the election campaign.

The request came after Vlad Biletchi, the president of AUR Moldova, confirmed in a televised debate on Pro TV Chisinau on June 25 that political advisers from Romania are helping the party in Moldova.

He added that the advisers are working unpaid, and that there is no need to declare their roles in the party's financial statements to the CEC.

Biletchi insisted that "if there were any expenses [related to the advisers], you should have seen those in our weekly financial report submitted to the CEC. The AUR is the most transparent and fairest party in terms of funding."

The AUR then issued a statement on Wednesday saying that Biletchi's words had been twisted and that the political advisers are AUR MPs from Romania who have Moldovan citizenship as well as Romanian. 

The AUR described the CEC's request to the SIS as an attempt to intimidate the party. 

The party also accused President Maia Sandu of being behind the move because the SIS is subordinate to the presidency. 

The SIS denied the AUR's...