CHISINAU – Moldovan President Maia Sandu took the lead in the election on Oct 20 with voters poised to back her bid for second term, as a referendum on joining the European Union hung in the balance, partial results showed.
Ms Sandu led a group of 11 contenders with 37 per cent of the vote, according to an initial count by the Central Electoral Commission in the capital Chisinau. Mr Alexandr Stoianoglo, a pro-Russian candidate and former prosecutor, came in second with 29 per cent.
Still, a referendum that aims to enshrine a long-term goal of EU membership into the country’s constitution had only 45 per cent support, with about half of the electorate left to be tallied as of midnight local time.
The uncounted ballots include those from voters in cities and from abroad, who tend to back EU accession. Polls have shown a consistent majority backed the referendum.
The stakes are high in the former Soviet republic as the pro-EU government faced what it called an unprecedented effort to thwart the vote in a coordinated campaign as a response to Ms Sandu’s goal of steering the country into the EU by the end of the decade.
“I voted today for Moldovans to be able to decide their own fate, not anyone else,” Ms Sandu said as she cast a ballot in the capital Chisinau. “Not based on the lies and the dirty money, but only the will of the people,” she added.
One of Europe’s poorest nations, Moldova began EU accession talks this year after securing candidacy status alongside Ukraine in 2022. Ms Sandu’s government has pledged to overhaul the nation’s justice system and bolster the economy to become a member by 2030.
But Russia, which has dominated Moldova’s energy resources and political system since the collapse of the Soviet Union, has sought to block the country’s Western path. With the US and EU accusing Moscow of meddling in the elections, the chief Moldovan negotiator with the EU this week said Moscow had pumped some €100 million (S$142 million) trying to disrupt the votes.
The election commission said voting had taken place without major disruption. Still, police in the country reported incidents, including efforts to transport or bribe voters, photographing ballots, intimidation and scuffling.
The Kremlin “categorically rejects” allegations that it is interfering in Moldova’s electoral process, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Oct 21, according to the state-run Tass news service.
Mihai Mogaldea, deputy director of the Institute for European Policy and Reforms, said he was confident that votes from Moldovans casting ballots abroad would give the EU referendum a majority. A failure of the vote could complicate Ms Sandu’s EU ambitions, though the vote isn’t binding.
Ms Sandu, a 52-year-old former World Bank official, has led Moldova since 2020 with an agenda to extricate the country from Moscow’s orbit and integrate it into the West. Polls show she would be favoured to defeat Mr Stoianoglo in a second round on November 3, if she fails to attain 50 per cent in the contest on Oct 20.
A procession of EU leaders had visited Chisinau in recent weeks, including Chancellor Olaf Scholz in August and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last week. The commission chief announced the allocation of a record €1.8 billion to buoy Moldova’s economy.
The campaign has already resulted in a shift for the country wedged between Romania, an EU member, and Ukraine. While most of its biggest trading partner a decade ago was Russia, some 70 per cent of its exports – mostly fruit and wine – now go to the EU.
But Moscow still wields influence. Although the EU has helped the country restore energy supplies cut off by the Kremlin, Russian troops have a presence in the breakaway region of Transnistria. Gagauzia, an autonomous region to the south of Chisinau, also supports Russia.
The electoral stakes will also rise even further going into 2025, when Moldova holds a general election. In that contest, Ms Sandu’s pro-European party may have tougher competition than in the presidential race. BLOOMBERG