Voters and officials were rushed out of the Moldovan embassy in central Brussels on Sunday after reports were received of a bomb in the building, which proved to be false.
Two officials, granted anonymity to speak to POLITICO, confirmed that the embassy had been evacuated following the alert, and that police had found no evidence of a threat.
Thousands of Moldovans living in the Belgian capital have been casting their ballots through the day at an overseas polling station set up in the diplomatic mission.
“These are the same tactics we have warned about — voter suppression,” said one of the officials following the evacuation.
Voting has since resumed at the embassy after it was given the all-clear by authorities.
The pro-EU government of Moldovan President Maia Sandu has repeatedly warned that Russia is trying to sway the parliamentary election and derail the country’s efforts to join the bloc. The governing Party of Action and Solidarity has declared it hopes to take the country into the EU by 2030.
In an interview with POLITICO last month, Moldova’s National Security Adviser Stanislav Secrieru warned that Moscow would try to intimidate diaspora voters — the majority of whom want to see their country become a member of the EU.
The vote, he said, could see “possible disruptions similar to those seen in previous elections — such as hoax bomb threats at polling stations in European cities — or staged protests abroad aimed at projecting false dissatisfaction.”
Preliminary results from the critical vote are expected later on Sunday. Officials have repeatedly sounded the alarm over a wide-scale disinformation campaign and attempts to bribe voters after the same tactics were used against Sandu in a presidential election last year.
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