CHISINAU
\nMoldova\u2019s ruling pro-EU party won parliamentary elections with the backing of more than half of voters, according to near-complete results on Monday for polls overshadowed by accusations of Russian interference in the ex-Soviet country.
\nThe small European Union candidate nation, which borders Ukraine and has a pro-Russia breakaway region, has long been divided over whether to move closer with Brussels or maintain Soviet-era relations with Moscow.
\nSunday\u2019s elections were seen as crucial for the country to maintain its push towards EU integration, launched after Moscow\u2019s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.With over 99.5 percent of ballots counted, the Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) headed by President Maia Sandu had garnered 50.03 percent of the vote to elect members of the 101-seat parliament.
\nThat compared to 24.26 percent for the pro-Russian Patriotic Bloc, according to results published on the election commission\u2019s website.
\nThe support for PAS — whose leaders did not address waiting reporters late Sunday — was slightly lower than the 52.8 percent that it won in 2021.
\n\u201dStatistically speaking PAS has guaranteed a fragile majority,\u201d analyst Andrei Curararu of the Chisinau-based think tank WatchDog.md told m on Sunday as the party took the lead in the count. But he warned that \u201cdanger\u201d had not passed, \u201cas a functional government is difficult to form\u201d.
\n\u201cThe Kremlin has bankrolled too big of an operation to stand down and could resort to protests, bribing PAS MPs and other tactics to disrupt forming a stable pro-European government,\u201d he added.
\nThe ballot was overshadowed by fears of vote buying and unrest, as well as \u201can unprecedented campaign of disinformation\u201d from Russia, according to the EU. Moscow has denied the allegations.
\nIgor Dodon, a former president and one of the leaders of the Patriotic Bloc, has called on people to \u201cpeacefully protest\u201d on Monday, accusing PAS of stealing the vote.\u201dIf during the night there are falsifications, tomorrow we won\u2019t recognise (the result of) the parliamentary elections… and we will ask for elections to be repeated,\u201d he said late Sunday outside the electoral commission, where he went with some supporters.
\nEarlier Sunday, voter Natalia Sandu said the election was \u201cimportant because we\u2019re at a crossroads\u201d.
\n\u201cOur hope, and our expectation, is that we will stay on the European path,\u201d the 34-year-old homemaker told media.
\n\u201cThe alternative is unthinkable, I refuse to even imagine sliding back into the past,\u201d she added. Turnout stood at around 52 percent, similar to that of the last parliamentary elections in 2021.
\nVoters in the country of 2.4 million — one of Europe\u2019s poorest — have expressed frustration over economic hardship, as well as scepticism over the drive to join the EU. \u201cI want higher wages and pensions…. I want things to continue as they were during the Russian times,\u201d Vasile, a 51-year-old locksmith and welder, who only gave his first name, told media at a polling station in Chisinau.
\nSome 20 political parties and independent candidates ran for the 101 parliamentary seats. After casting her vote, pro-EU President Maia Sandu warned of the \u201cmassive interference of Russia\u201d. Moldova\u2019s cybersecurity service said Sunday it had detected several attempted attacks on electoral infrastructure, which were \u201cneutralised in real time… without affecting the availability or integrity of electoral services\u201d.
\nIn the breakaway region of Transnistria, authorities, in turn, accused Chisinau of \u201cnumerous and blatant\u201d attempts to limit the vote of Moldovans living in the separatist territory by reducing the number of polling stations and other tactics.
\nThe government has accused the Kremlin of spending hundreds of millions in \u201cdirty money\u201d to interfere in the campaign. In the lead-up to the vote, prosecutors carried out hundreds of searches related to what the government said was \u201celectoral corruption\u201d and \u201cdestabilisation attempts\u201d, with dozens arrested.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
CHISINAU Moldova\u2019s ruling pro-EU party won parliamentary elections with the backing of more than half of voters, according to near-complete results on Monday for polls overshadowed by accusations of Russian interference in the ex-Soviet country. The small European Union candidate nation, which borders Ukraine and has a pro-Russia breakaway region, has long been divided over […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":505812,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-505791","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n