CHISINAU (Reuters) - A senior government minister urged Moldovans on Sunday to shun "thieves, fugitives and bandits" after an exiled pro-Russian business magnate pledged to pay voters to vote "no" in a referendum on joining the European Union.
Infrastructure Minister Andrei Spinu's call underscored the increasingly unruly campaign for the Oct. 20 presidential election in which pro-European incumbent Maia Sandu is seeking a second term.
Voters will also take part in a referendum on altering the constitution to enable ex-Soviet Moldova, one of Europe's poorest countries, to press for membership of the 27-nation EU.
The most vocal opponent of EU membership, fugitive pro-Russian businessman Ilan Shor, offered in a weekend Telegram post to pay voters the equivalent of $29 if they registered for his campaign in the country lying between Ukraine and Romania.
Voters, he said, would get larger rewards if they cast "no" ballots in the referendum and if results showed they lived in electoral districts rejecting the proposal.
Shor was sentenced to 15 years in prison last year in absentia in connection with his role in the disappearance of $1 billion from Moldova's banking system.
Exiled in Russia, he now heads the "Victory" election bloc, barred from taking part in the campaign.
Andrei Spinu, infrastructure minister and head of Sandu's re-election campaign team, said opponents of the president's EU drive were "using money to buy votes and people".
"They are using propaganda to spread lies about the European Union and frighten people with all sorts of tall tales," he wrote on Telegram. "Let us not believe thieves, fugitives and bandits."
Sandu, who denounces Russia's invasion of Ukraine and views Moscow as one of the biggest threats facing Moldova, also told voters in a Saturday address to be on guard against fraud.
"The liars are now trying to intimidate us and oblige us to take decisions other than those that we want," she said. "We must not let them decide our own fate."
In recent days, paint has been daubed on buildings belonging to Moldova's state-owned broadcaster, the Supreme Court and two other state institutions. Police blame the incidents on a group trained in Moscow to destabilise the election.
Sandu is favoured to win the presidential vote against 10 challengers, with a recent poll crediting her with about 27% support. That poll put backing for EU membership at 56% among decided voters with 34% opposed.
(Reporting by Alexander Tanas, Editing by Ron Popeski and Marguerita Choy)
