Moldova: pro-European party wins legislative elections with 50% of the vote

The Action and Solidarity Party, led by President Maia Sandu, won Moldova's legislative elections, according to official results released Monday with 99.52% of the votes counted.

This small nation, which borders Ukraine, aspires to join the European Union (EU) and has a pro-Russian separatist region. The country has long been divided between pursuing closer ties with Brussels or maintaining Soviet-era relations oriented toward Moscow.

PAS, in power since 2021, won 50.03% of Sunday’s vote, defeating the pro-Russian Patriotic Bloc, which received 24.26%, according to results posted on the Election Commission’s website.

Russian interference

"Statistically speaking, PAS secured a fragile majority," analyst Andrei Curararu of the WatchDog think tank told AFP, warning that the "danger" has not passed, "because it is difficult to form a functional government."

"The Kremlin funded operation too big to drop its arms, and it could resort to protests, bribing PAS lawmakers and other tactics to prevent the formation of a stable pro-European government," he warned.

Russia denied accusations that it launched an online disinformation campaign and attempted to buy votes and provoke unrest.

However, the Moldovan cybersecurity service warned Sunday that it detected several attempts to attack the electoral infrastructure, which were "neutralized in real time (...) without affecting the integrity of electoral services."

Call to protest

Igor Dodon, one of the leaders of the Patriotic Bloc, claimed victory for the pro-Russian movement and called for a demonstration on Monday in the capital, Chisinau, after accusing PAS of manipulating the results. However, most polls had shown PAS as the favorite.

President Sandu called the process the "most consequential election" in Moldova. "Its outcome will decide whether we consolidate our democracy and join the EU, or whether Russia drags us back into a grey zone, making us a regional risk," she said Friday on X.

Europe cannot lose Moldova

On the other hand, Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, warned last week, ahead of the UN General Assembly, about the risk of Europe losing influence over Moldova to Russia, as has already occurred in Belarus and Georgia.

"Russia is trying to do with Moldova what Iran once did with Lebanon, and the global response, once again, is not enough. We have already lost Georgia to Europe... and, for many, many years, Belarus has also been moving towards dependence on Russia. Europe cannot afford to lose Moldova as well," the Ukrainian leader said.