With 98% of the votes counted, Moldova’s pro-Western incumbent President Maia Sandu won the presidential elections on Sunday, the 3rd of November, with 54.35% of the vote, beating her rival Alexandr Stoianoglo, backed by the traditionally pro-Russian Socialist Party, the country’s Central Election Commission announced, reports Reuters.
The election and the campaign were overshadowed by persistent allegations of Russian interference, which it denied.
The victory of the 52-year-old former World Bank adviser is seen as a confirmation of her pro-European and anti-Moscow stance, although the significant support for Stoianoglo suggests that her party may face challenges in next summer’s parliamentary elections. Stoianoglo campaigned for EU integration while maintaining ties with Russia, but Sandu called him a Kremlin Trojan horse, which he has denied.
“Moldova, you are a winner! … No one lost in our choice for a decent future,” Sandu said in her victory speech, in which she said she must address the concerns of those who voted against her.
“I have heard your voice – both those who supported me and those who voted for Stoianoglo. I pledge to be President for all of you,” she said. “I want you to know that I have heard all the voices, including the voices of criticism. And I am grateful that you looked beyond the grievances, the dissatisfaction, to protect our country.”
Sandu described Sunday’s vote as a choice between a future in the European Union (EU) by 2030 or further instability,
while Stoianoglo accused her of neglecting ordinary Moldovans and fuelling divisions between Romanian and Russian-speaking communities while winning votes that criticised her economic policies.
The vote was the largest turnout of foreign voters since 2010, when the diaspora was allowed to vote in Moldovan elections for the first time.
In Moldova, the results showed that Sandu actually lost the election to Stoianoglo by a narrow margin – 48.8% to 51.2%. In contrast, she seems to have won more than 80% of the diaspora vote.
Sandu’s national security adviser Stanislav Secrieru on Sunday accused Russia of massive interference operations, the latest in a string of accusations also levelled against Ilan Shor, a Moldovan oligarch living in Russia who denies guilt.
“We are seeing massive Russian interference in our electoral process … an effort with a high potential to distort the outcome of the elections,” Secrieru wrote on X on Sunday.
Secrieru reported voter coercion, cyber-attacks and bomb threats at polling stations in Europe, while police cracked down to try to avoid a repeat of what they said was a vast vote-buying.
Sandu has alleged that interference influenced the first round on the 20th of October and that Shor tried to buy the votes of 300 000 people, more than 10% of the population. The pro-EU camp won the EU referendum with 50.35% of the vote.