Pro-European candidate wins Moldovan election

BerlinOutgoing pro-European President Maya Sandu has declared herself the winner of the Moldovan elections, after a tense electoral campaign marked by Russian interference and vote-buying. With 99% of the vote counted, Sandu has obtained 55.15% of the votes, compared to the pro-Russian candidate Alexandr Stoianoglo, who would get 44.85% of the votes, according to data from the Central Election Commission (CEC). ~BK_LINE_BREAK~ Moldovans have been more mobilized in the second round, aware that the future of their country was at stake at the ballot box. The participation rate was 54.8% of the electorate, higher than in the first round, held on October 20, when 51.74% of Moldovans eligible to vote went to the polls. ~BK_LINE_BREAK~ The second round of voting saw several incidents, from fake bomb threats to consulates abroad to vote-buying and cyberattacks, local media reported. ~BK_LINE_BREAK~ In the first round, Sandu, a pro-Western candidate from the Action and Solidarity Party (PAS), had won 42% of the vote, compared to Stoianoglo, a supporter of strengthening ties with Moscow, who won 26% of the vote. The other candidates shared the rest of the votes. As no candidate achieved a majority, a second round was called. ~BK_LINE_BREAK~ Coinciding with the first round, Moldovans voted in a referendum by a narrow margin in favour of changing the Constitution to protect their aspirations to join the European Union. The PAS won. Yeah in the EU with 50.4%, compared to 49.6% who voted against. The difference between the Yeah and the No The European Union's presidential election was only 11,400 votes. The foreign vote tipped the balance in Europe's favour. ~BK_LINEBREAK~ The European Union on Monday congratulated the pro-European candidate who won the presidential election, Maia Sandu, despite "unprecedented interference from Russia", such as "vote buying and disinformation", according to the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, in a statement. ~BK_LINEBREAK~

Despite being the favourite in the election, Sandu, 52, was aware that she would not have an easy time in the second round. The outgoing president, in office since December 2020, feared that Moscow would manipulate the vote, as it had in the first round and in the European referendum. ~BK_LINE_BREAK~ After the first round, Chisinau and Brussels denounced interference from Moscow. Moldovan police accused the exiled Moldovan-Israeli oligarch Ilan Shor, who lives in Russia, of buying the votes of 130,000 Moldovans through accounts of the Russian state bank PSB. The voters would have received around 100 euros in exchange for voting in favour of the pro-Russian candidate and against Moldova's accession to the EU. Both Shor and Moscow have denied any interference in the elections and the referendum. ~BK_LINE_BREAK~ During the presidential debate between the two rounds, Sandu accused Stoianoglo of being the Kremlin's "Trojan horse." Stoianoglo boycotted the pro-European referendum in "protest" against Sandu's desire to change the Moldovan Constitution. ~BK_LINE_BREAK~ The former general prosecutor advocated a "balanced" foreign policy during the election campaign. Stoianoglo said he was betting on Moldova's integration into the EU and at the same time on strengthening ties with Russia in the national interest. ~BK_LINE_BREAK~ Discontent with the outgoing government

Stoianoglo tried to capitalise during the election campaign on the discontent of many Moldovans with the outgoing government. Sandu, a former World Bank economist, has had a succession of crises under her tenure, from the Covid crisis to the outbreak of the war in Ukraine and the influx of Ukrainian refugees, including the gas crisis. Russia has used gas as a tool to put pressure on the Moldovan government. Sandu has weaned Moldova off Russian gas, which has hit Moldovans' pockets. Inflation has soared to more than 30% in one of Europe's poorest countries. Its electricity remains heavily dependent on the Russian-owned Cuciurgan power plant in the breakaway region of Transnistria. ~BK_LINE_BREAK~ Moldova, a country bordering Ukraine and Romania, applied for EU membership in March 2022, a month after the start of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. In December 2023, Brussels opened accession negotiations for Moldova, which became independent from the Soviet Union in 1991. ~BK_LINE_BREAK~