Moldova’s Central Electoral Commission (CEC) has referred a request to the Constitutional Court to annul the registration of the Party Democracy at Home (PPDA) for alleged violations of campaign transparency rules, following the discovery of unreported promotional activity on TikTok, according to Newsmaker.md.

The decision could strip PPDA of its six parliamentary seats and alter the balance of power in favour of the ruling Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS), after it won the September 28 general election.

According to the complaint, PPDA utilised a network of fake social media accounts to disseminate campaign materials, thereby gaining millions of views without disclosing the associated expenditures. The PAS also cited a video featuring Romanian politician George Simion, leader of the far-right Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) party, who is banned from entering Moldova. In the video, Simion urged Moldovan voters to support the PPDA in the parliamentary elections.

The CEC admitted the joint request filed by the PAS and the Police’s National Investigation Inspectorate, which claimed that third parties had conducted online campaigning for PPDA without proper disclosure. The findings were submitted to the Constitutional Court along with the final results of the September 28 parliamentary elections.

If the court confirms PPDA’s disqualification, its votes will be redistributed among the remaining parties, increasing PAS’s majority from 55 to 58 seats, out of a total of 101. Notably, two of the PAS’s current seats were won by independent candidates aligned with the party’s pro-EU platform but critical of some of its specific policies. The supplementary seats would thus consolidate PAS's fragile majority and bring it closer to the 61-seat constitutional majority (the majority necessary for amending the Constitution).

During its meeting on October 3, the CEC determined there were sufficient grounds to annul the PPDA’s participation in the elections. Since voting had already concluded, the final decision on whether to validate or void the results lies with the Constitutional Court.

In addition to the referral, the commission issued the PPDA a formal warning and suspended its state funding for one year, a decision that can be appealed to the Court of Appeals.