Moldova’s pro-Western president wins re-election in second round, shocked by alleged Russian interference

CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) — Moldova’s pro-Western President Maia Sandu has won a second term in a crucial presidential run-off against a Russia-friendly opponent, in a race overshadowed by claims of Russian interference, voter fraud and intimidation in government. Candidate country of the European Union.

With nearly 99 percent of the votes counted in the second round of presidential elections held Sunday, Sandu had 54.7 percent of the vote, according to the Central Electoral Commission (CEC), compared to 45.3 percent for Alexandr Stoianoglo, a former attorney general who is supported by the pro-Russian Party of Socialists.

The result will come as a major relief to the pro-Western government, which strongly supported Sandu’s candidacy, and its push for closer Western ties on Moldova’s path to the EU.

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“Moldova, you won! Today, dear Moldovans, you have given a lesson in democracy worthy of being written in the history books. Today you saved Moldova! In our choice for a dignified future, no one has lost,” Sandu said after claiming victory after midnight.

But she went on to claim that her country’s vote had faced an “unprecedented attack” through alleged schemes such as dirty money, vote buying and electoral interference “by hostile forces from outside the country” and criminal groups.

“You have shown that nothing can stand in the way of the people’s power if they choose to speak through their voices,” she added.

When polling stations closed locally at 9pm (7pm GMT), the turnout was more than 1.68 million people – around 54 percent of eligible voters, according to the CEC. Moldova’s large diaspora, which cast a record number of more than 325,000 votes, heavily favored Sandu in the second round.

In the first round on October 20, Sandu won 42 percent of the vote, but failed to win an outright majority over second-place Stoianoglo. The presidential role includes significant powers in areas such as foreign policy and national security and has a four-year term.

Accusations of vote buying and Russian interference

The Moldovan diaspora played a key role in the presidential elections and in a nationwide referendum on October 20, when a narrow majority of 50.35 percent voted to secure Moldova’s path to EU membership. But the results of the voting rounds, including Sunday’s, have been overshadowed by allegations of a massive vote-buying scheme and voter intimidation.

Rather than gaining the overwhelming support Sandu had hoped for, the results of both races revealed the Moldovan judiciary’s inability to adequately protect the democratic process.

On Sunday, Moldovan police said they had “reasonable evidence” of organized transport of voters – illegal under the country’s electoral law – to polling stations from domestically and abroad, and that they are “investigating and recording evidence related to Russia’s air transport activities to Belarus, Azerbaijan and Turkey.”

“Such measures are taken to protect the integrity of the electoral process and to ensure that every citizen’s vote is cast freely, without undue pressure or influence,” police said.

The Moldovan Foreign Ministry said on Sunday afternoon that polling stations in Frankfurt, Germany, and Liverpool and Northampton in Britain were targeted by hoax bomb threats, which were “merely intended to stop the voting process.”

Stanislav Secrieru, the president’s national security adviser, wrote of

Secrieru later added that national voter registration systems were being targeted by “continuous coordinated cyber attacks” to disrupt connections between domestic polling places and those abroad, and that cybersecurity teams were “working to counter these threats and ensure the continuity of the system to ensure.”

Moldova’s Prime Minister Dorin Recean said people across the country had received “anonymous death threats via phone calls” in what he called “an extreme attack” to frighten voters in the former Soviet republic, which has a population of about 2.5 million. to make.

After casting her vote in Chisinau, Sandu said: “Today more than ever we must be united, keep our peace, keep our voice, keep our independence.”

“Thieves want to buy our vote, thieves want to buy our country, but the power of the people is infinitely greater,” she told reporters.

Outside a polling station in the Romanian capital Bucharest, 20-year-old medical student Silviana Zestrea said the election would be a “definitive step” towards Moldova’s future.

“People need to understand that we need to elect a real candidate who will meet our expectations,” she said. “Because I think even though we are a diaspora now, none of us actually wanted to leave.”

Moldovan police expose a plan allegedly devised by a convicted oligarch

In the aftermath of the two October votes, Moldovan law enforcement said a vote-buying scheme was orchestrated by Ilan Shor, an exiled oligarch living in Russia who was convicted in absentia last year of fraud and money laundering. Shor denies any wrongdoing.

Prosecutors say $39 million in voter payments was made to more than 130,000 recipients between September and October through an internationally sanctioned Russian bank. Anti-corruption authorities have carried out hundreds of raids and seized more than $2.7 million (2.5 million euros) in cash in their bid to crack down.

In one case in Gagauzia, an autonomous part of Moldova where only 5 percent voted in favor of the EU, a doctor was arrested after allegedly forcing 25 residents of a retirement home to vote for a candidate they had not chosen. Police said they had obtained “conclusive evidence” including financial transfers from the same Russian bank.

On Saturday, at a church in Gagauzia’s capital Comrat, Father Vasilii told The Associated Press that he urged people to vote because it is a “civic duty” and that they do not name candidates.

“We use the goods that the country offers us – light, gas,” he said. “Whether we like what the government is doing or not, we have to vote. … The church always prays for peace.”

On Thursday, prosecutors raided the headquarters of a political party and said 12 people were suspected of paying voters to select a candidate for the presidential election. A criminal case was also opened in which 40 employees of government agencies were suspected of accepting election bribes.

Moldova’s EU future is at stake

Cristian Cantir, a Moldovan associate professor of international relations at Oakland University, told AP that whatever the outcome of the second round, geopolitical tensions “will not subside.” “On the contrary, I expect that geopolitical polarization will be strengthened by the campaign for the 2025 parliamentary elections.”

Moldovan law enforcement needs more resources and better trained personnel to work faster to tackle voter fraud, he added, to “create an environment where anyone tempted to buy or sell votes knows that this is clear and will have rapid consequences.”

Savlina Adasan, a 21-year-old economics student in Bucharest, said she voted for Sandu, citing concerns about corruption and voters being unaware of the two candidates.

“We want a European future for our country,” she said, adding that it “offers a lot of opportunities and development for our country… and I feel that if the other candidate wins, it means that we as a country will go back ten steps. .”

A pro-Western government has been in power in Moldova since 2021, and parliamentary elections will be held in 2025. Moldovan observers warn that next year’s vote could be Moscow’s main target.

In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Moldova applied to join the EU. In June of that year it was granted candidate country status, and in the summer of 2024 Brussels agreed to start membership negotiations. The sharp shift westward irritated Moscow and significantly soured relations with Chisinau.

Since then, Moldovan authorities have repeatedly accused Russia of waging a massive “hybrid war,” from extensive disinformation campaigns to protests by pro-Russian parties and vote-buying schemes that are undermining elections across the country. Russia has denied interfering.

McGrath reported from Bucharest, Romania. Associated Press writer Nicolae Dumitrache in Comrat, Moldova, contributed to this report.