FILE PHOTO: Former Prosecutor General Alexandr Stoianoglo speaks during an event to launch his campaign for the upcoming presidential election in Chisinau, Moldova September 20, 2024. REUTERS/Vladislav Culiomza/File Photo
CHISINAU (Reuters) - Moldova's opposition challenger to President Maia Sandu's re-election bid came under fire on Tuesday for holding duel citizenship with neighbouring Romania -- a criticism that has also been levelled at Sandu.
In a country where nearly half the residents hold more than one passport, Alexandr Stoianoglo, dismissed as Sandu's prosecutor general, said like many Moldovans he had taken out Romanian citizenship.
The pro-Russian Socialist Party which backs him in the October 20 poll, has criticised the pro-European Sandu over the past four years for holding dual Moldovan and Romanian citizenship.
WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT
Thirty years after independence, Moldova is still carving out a national identity against the background of 150 years of history during which it was, in turns, part of the Russian empire, Greater Romania and the Soviet Union.
The opposition has long seized on Sandu's dual citizenship to underscore what it depicts as her slavish commitment to the West and abandonment of longstanding links with Russia.
Sandu denounces Russia's invasion of Ukraine and has spearheaded a referendum to be held alongside the presidential poll on joining the 27-nation European Union.
ZIARUL NATIONAL NEWSPAPER
"(Socialist Party leader Igor) Dodon is promoting a Romanian citizen for the post of Moldovan president. Stoianoglo...has become an electoral 'instrument' of a foreign, aggressor state."
KEY QUOTES
Alexandr Stoianoglo, opposition candidate for president:
"My acquisition of Romanian citizenship was a transparent and apolitical decision and I never concealed it. If the Central Election Commission and government officials were well aware that I have Romanian citizenship, why is this topic being blown up only now?"
CONTEXT
Official statistics show that about 1.5 million of Moldova's 2.4 residents hold dual citizenship -- including Romanian and Bulgarian, both EU members, or Russian -- largely to make travel and job searches easier in one of Europe's poorest countries.
Opinion polls put Sandu in front in the presidential race with 27 % support to 13 % for Renato Usatiy, who calls for good relations with the West and Russia, and 11 % for Stoianoglo.
(Reporting by Alexander Tanas, Editing by Ronald Popeski and Michael Perry)
