Moldovans cast ballots in local elections amid claims of Russian meddling

Moldovans are casting ballots in nationwide local elections on Sunday amid claims by Moldovan authorities that Russia has been conducting “hybrid warfare” to undermine the vote in the European Union candidate country. While local elections in Moldova, a country of about 2.5 million people situated between Romania and Ukraine, would not usually garner much international attention, ongoing accusations of Russian meddling add a geopolitical dimension to the vote. Two days ahead of the election, Moldova’s Prime Minister Dorin Recean announced a ban on candidates from the pro-Russia Chance Party, which came after Moldova’s national intelligence agency published a report Friday alleging that Russia was trying to “influence the electoral process” via the party.