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Moldovan official accuses Russia of meddling in Sunday’s presidential runoff
By Tom Balmforth and Felix Hoske
CHISINAU (Reuters) -A Moldovan security official accused Russia on Sunday of “massive interference” as Moldovans voted in a tightly fought presidential election that could see Moscow claw back influence in a country drawing closer to the European Union.
Pro-Western incumbent Maia Sandu, who has accelerated the nation’s push to leave Moscow’s orbit and join the EU, faces Alexandr Stoianoglo, an ex-prosecutor general backed by the traditionally pro-Russian Socialist Party.
The fortunes of Sandu, who set Moldova on the long path of EU accession talks in June, is being closely watched in Brussels a week after Georgia, another ex-Soviet state seeking membership, re-elected a ruling party regarded in the West as increasingly pro-Russian.
The future of Moldova, a poor agricultural nation of fewer than 3 million people, has been in the spotlight since Russia began its full-scale invasion of neighbouring Ukraine in 2022.
“We’re seeing massive interference by Russia in our electoral process … an effort with high potential to distort the outcome,” Sandu’s national security adviser Stanislav Secrieru wrote on X.
There was no immediate comment from Moscow, which has denied past allegations of meddling. Moldova has accused Ilan Shor, a fugitive oligarch living in Russia, of spending millions of dollars to pay off voters to oppose Sandu. He denies wrongdoing.
Stoianoglo says he supports EU integration, but also wants to develop ties with Russia in the national interest. He wants to renegotiate cheap Russian gas supplies and said he would meet with President Vladimir Putin if Moldovans wanted it.
“I voted for a free, stable and blossoming Moldova that isn’t standing with its hand out, but develops in harmony based on relations with the West and East,” he said after casting his ballot.
Polling stations close at 9 p.m. (1900 GMT). Early results will start coming in an hour later, but they will change, possibly significantly, as they are updated with the vote from larger cities like Chisinau and the diaspora abroad.
The results will set the tone for parliamentary elections next year when Sandu’s party may struggle to retain its majority.
“Today is a crucial day for us… we go in one direction or the other. We didn’t have such an important day in the last 30 years,” said Mihai David, 58, who voted in Chisinau.
“My son is in Germany, and I’m happy about it. I was there and it’s much better and we want it to be the same here,” said Maria Fefilova, 68, a pensioner.
Stoianoglo’s East-West balancing rhetoric contrasts with Sandu’s four years in power, during which ties with the Kremlin have unravelled, Moscow’s diplomats have been expelled and she has condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Moscow calls her government “Russophobic”.
Sandu portrays Stoianoglo as the Kremlin’s man and a political Trojan horse, painting Sunday’s vote as a choice between a bright future in the EU by 2030 or one of uncertainty and instability.
Stoianoglo says that is untrue and that Sandu has failed to look out for the interests of ordinary Moldovans. He accuses her of divisive politics in a country that has a Romanian-speaking majority and large Russian-speaking minority.
MEDDLING ALLEGATIONS
Security official Secrieru cited reports of Moldovans being transported to vote in an organised and therefore illegal way from Moldova’s pro-Moscow breakaway region of Transdniestria where Russia has soldiers stationed as peacekeepers.
Voters there have to travel to Moldovan-controlled territory to vote, but do so under their own steam. By 11 a.m., turnout for the region was already higher than it was for the whole of the first round on Oct. 20, Secrieru said.
He said people had also been brought by organised group transport from Russia and taken by bus and on large charter flights to Moldovan polling stations abroad in Baku, Istanbul and Minsk.
There had also been coordinated cyberattacks targeting the connectivity of voter record systems and disrupting links between polling stations domestically and abroad, he said.
The police have cracked down to try to avoid a repeat of what they said was a vast vote-buying scheme deployed by Shor in the first round and a referendum on the EU’s aspirations that was held the same day.
Sandu has said the meddling affected the Oct. 20 results and that Shor sought to buy the votes of 300,000 people, more than 10% of the population. The referendum delivered a slender win of 50.35% for the pro-EU camp. Sandu won 42% of the vote in the first round. Stoianoglo came second with 26%.
A Moldovan government source said Chisinau notified several EU nations that it believed Russia would try to disrupt voting by expatriates at polling stations in their countries on Sunday. Moldovans living in the West are typically pro-European and more likely to support Sandu.
Secrieru said four bomb hoaxes had been reported to polling stations in Britain’s Liverpool and Northampton and Germany’s Frankfurt and Kaiserslautern.
Stoianoglo is expected to benefit from protest votes against Sandu’s handling of the economy. Moldova struggled with the aftermath of the COVID pandemic and the effects of Russia’s Ukraine invasion, which sparked a huge influx of refugees and sharply reduced Russian gas supplies, causing high inflation.
In Gagauzia, a largely pro-Russian autonomous region, a dozen voters polled by Reuters outside a polling station suggested or said outright that they voted for Stoianoglo.
“We’re a neutral country and we don’t need the European Union. For the last four years, we haven’t seen anything from our president… The prices are high, everything is expensive, everything,” said Dmitry, 57, a communal worker.
By Eric Cox and Brad Brooks
CHICAGO (Reuters) – The Illinois Supreme Court on Thursday overturned the conviction of actor Jussie Smollett, the one-time star of the TV drama “Empire”, for staging a hate crime against himself in 2019.
The court agreed with defense arguments that Smollett should not have been charged a second time for filing a false hate crime report because prosecutors had already agreed to drop such charges against him in a negotiated agreement.
“We hold that a second prosecution under these circumstances is a due process violation, and we therefore reverse defendant’s
conviction,” Justice Elizabeth Rochford wrote in the opinion.
A jury in 2021 found Smollett guilty of five counts of disorderly conduct for falsely telling Chicago police that he was accosted on a dark Chicago street by two masked strangers in a racist and homophobic attack in 2019. The investigation revealed that Smollett, who is Black and gay, paid two men to stage the attack.
The actor was ordered to spend 150 days in jail, but was released after being confined for six days pending his appeal.
Smollett had claimed the attackers threw a noose around his neck and poured chemicals on him while yelling racist and homophobic slurs and expressions of support for then-President Donald Trump.
The original case against Smollett was dropped by Cook County prosecutors in the spring of 2019 in exchange for Smollett forfeiting his $10,000 bond without admitting wrongdoing.
The dismissal drew criticism from then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the city’s police superintendent, who called the reversal a miscarriage of justice. A special prosecutor was appointed in the summer of 2019 to investigate Smollett’s case, and new charges against him were brought in February 2020.
In a statement, Smollett’s attorney Nenya Uche said “the rule of law was the big winner today.”
Special prosecutor Dan Webb disagreed with the court’s decision and argued in a statement that there was precedent in state law to justify the second set of charges.
“Make no mistake – today’s ruling has nothing to do with Mr. Smollett’s innocence,” Webb said.
“The Illinois Supreme Court did not find any error with the overwhelming evidence presented at trial that Mr. Smollett orchestrated a fake hate crime and reported it to the Chicago Police Department as a real hate crime, or the jury’s unanimous verdict that Mr. Smollett was guilty of five counts of felony disorderly conduct,” Webb said.
The Cook County State’s Attorneys’ Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a remarkable display of financial resilience, BV Financial Inc. (BVFL) stock has soared to a 52-week high, reaching a price level of $16.20. This peak reflects a significant surge in investor confidence, as the company’s stock price has climbed an impressive 40.02% over the past year. The ascent to this new high underscores the bullish sentiment surrounding BV Financial’s performance and prospects, as shareholders celebrate the robust gains and market analysts watch closely for the company’s next moves in an ever-evolving economic landscape.
In other recent news, BV Financial has announced the approval of its 2024 Equity Incentive Plan and a significant 10% stock buyback program. The newly approved plan, backed by a majority of stockholder votes, aims to provide stock-based awards to the company’s officers, employees, and directors, aligning the interests of its key personnel with those of its shareholders. In addition, directors Joseph S. Galli, Timothy L. Prindle, and Matcheld V. Thomas were re-elected for a three-year term, and the appointment of FORVIS, LLP as the independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2024, was ratified.
The stock buyback program, the first since its mutual-to-stock conversion in July 2023, equates to approximately 1,138,772 shares and is expected to commence no earlier than August 1, 2024. It is set to continue until June 30, 2025, pending any extensions approved by the Board of Directors and the Federal Reserve. However, BV Financial has clarified that the program may be modified, suspended, or terminated at any time due to changing market conditions and investment opportunities. These are among the latest developments in the company’s strategic initiatives.
InvestingPro Insights
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This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.
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By Douglas Gillison
(Reuters) -A federal judge in Texas on Thursday struck down the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s overhaul of Treasury dealer rules adopted earlier this year, finding that the agency had overstepped its legal authority in issuing the regulations, according to court records.
The decision marked at least the third time in a year that a court had vacated prominent SEC regulations and the latest blow from a conservative-leaning judiciary to policy goals under President Joe Biden, who is due to step down in January.
The changed legal environment has hampered the SEC’s ability to pursue its regulatory agenda this year.
“The Court holds that the Rule is in excess of the Commission’s authority based on the text, history, and structure” of the SEC’s founding statutes, U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor of the Northern District of Texas said in an opinion.
Adopted in February over Republican officials’ objections, the rule required proprietary traders and others who routinely deal in government bonds and other securities to register as broker-dealers.
The rule aimed to address liquidity problems in the $26 trillion Treasury market, something market players said was part of the biggest market structure overhaul in decades.
An SEC spokesperson said the agency was reviewing the decision before deciding on next steps.
The case was brought by the Managed Funds Association and other trade groups representing the investment industry. O’Connor also reached the same outcome on Thursday in a separate case brought by the Blockchain Association and the Crypto Freedom Alliance of Texas, two cryptocurrency organizations.
The Alternative Investment Management Association, which had brought suit with MFA, hailed the news, saying the decisions spared hedge fund managers from “severe and adverse consequences” from what it said would have been sweeping and unprecedented changes.
Courts in December and June also struck down SEC rules on share buybacks and disclosures by private fund advisers. At least three other rules remain subject to legal challenges.
However observers say they expect President-elect Donald Trump’s administration may simply settle them in favor of industry after taking office next year.
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