Moldova’s governing pro-European Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) has taken the lead in the parliamentary election with 46 percent of the votes, compared with 27 percent for the pro-Russian Patriotic Bloc, with 90 percent of votes counted, according to the country’s electoral commission.
Sunday’s parliamentary election, which is viewed as a geopolitical choice between a path to the European Union or a drift back into Moscow’s fold, has been fraught with claims of Russian interference.
When polls closed at 9pm (18:00 GMT), the Central Electoral Commission reported that more than 1.59 million – about 51.9 percent of eligible voters – had cast their ballots, including 264,000 Moldovans in polling stations set up abroad. In the 2021 parliamentary election, turnout was just above 48 percent.
The pivotal vote will elect a new 101-seat parliament, after which Moldova’s president nominates a prime minister, generally from the leading party or bloc, which can then try to form a new government. A proposed government needs parliamentary approval.
After casting her ballot, Moldova’s pro-Western president, Maia Sandu, reiterated the long-held claims that Russia “massively interfered” in the election, saying she voted “to keep the peace”, and that her country’s future lies within the EU.
PAS leader Igor Grosu said after polls closed that “Russia’s attempts to hijack the electoral process have been huge”, and that state institutions made efforts to ensure the security and integrity of the voting.
“The consequences of this intervention are hard to estimate at this hour,” he said. “We are waiting for the election results. We pray for patience and calm.”
Pro-Western PAS has held a strong parliamentary majority since 2021. The electoral race pitted the party against several Russia-friendly opponents but no viable pro-European partners, leaving a lot of uncertainty over potential outcomes.
Russian interference fears
Sunday’s tense race was marked by a string of incidents.
Moldova’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that bomb threats have targeted polling stations set up in several cities abroad, which stopped people from voting for up to two hours in some cases.
The country’s Information Technology and Cyber Security Service also said that cyberattacks targeted electoral infrastructure and government cloud services, but were swiftly dealt with.
Police detained three people suspected of being from the security services in Moldova’s pro-Russian breakaway region of Transnistria, who were allegedly planning to cause “mass destabilisations and disorder” after the election.
The country of about 2.5 million people has spent recent years on a Westward path, gaining candidate status to the EU in 2022. Tensions between Russia and Moldova, a former republic of the Soviet Union landlocked between Ukraine and EU member Romania, skyrocketed shortly after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Days before Sunday’s vote, Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Recean warned that Russia was spending “hundreds of millions” of euros as part of an alleged hybrid war to try to seize power, which he described as “the final battle for our country’s future”.
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