Moldovan Leader Seals Election Win to Revive EU Entry Path
(Bloomberg) -- Moldovan President Maia Sandu pulled out a decisive election victory in the former Soviet republic on Sunday, defying Russian efforts to disrupt the ballot and revive her push to steer the country into the European Union by the end of the decade.
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The victory, with just over 55% of the vote, took place after an Oct. 20 referendum on Moldova’s EU membership squeaked through by an unexpectedly thin margin — and as authorities cited “massive interference” from Moscow.
Sandu, a former World Bank official, hit the campaign trail over the last two weeks to reassure voters in one of Europe’s poorest countries that she’ll accelerate reforms and improve governance. But her victory in the second round was ultimately assured by a surge of Moldovans casting ballots outside the country.
“We proved that united we can defeat those who wanted to bring us to our knees,” Sandu told reporters early Monday in Chisinau. “Moldovans abroad have shown once again that Moldova beats as strongly in their hearts as it does in ours back home.”
The country’s Central Electoral Commission confirmed Sandu’s victory over Alexandr Stoianoglo, a former top prosecutor who pledged to maintain strong ties with the Kremlin, citing an almost final count. Sandu acknowledged that a majority within the nation of 2.6 million remain dissatisfied, with Stoianoglo winning an edge among voters within Moldova’s borders.
A string of recent ballots laid bare gains in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s efforts to halt a turn to the West. A week ago, Georgia’s Moscow-aligned ruling party declared victory in a parliamentary vote, triggering condemnation from the opposition, who said the vote was rigged.
The pro-Russian Party of Socialists, which endorsed Stoianoglo as presidential candidate, has rejected the results. The party would not acknowledge the diaspora vote due to “irregularities” in unnamed foreign countries, said party leader Igor Dodon, a former president of Moldova.
The statement accused the electoral commission of being politicized but did not say the party would challenge the vote in court. Dodon said Moldova’s citizens will make the final decision during next year’s general elections.
Sandu, 52, has vowed to press ahead even as she confronts fierce resistance from the Kremlin, which she’s accused of meddling in the country’s democratic process. Moldova’s police documented 225 incidents of irregularities, though said the vote was largely conducted without major incidents.
Meddling Charges
Sandu’s national security adviser, Stanislav Secrieru, cited reports of transporting voters, bomb threats at polling stations abroad and record turnout in the breakaway region of Transnistria as factors that were aimed at steering the result.
“We’re seeing massive interference by Russia in our electoral process as Moldovans vote in the presidential runoff today — an effort with high potential to distort the outcome,” Secrieru said in a post on social media platform X.
In response to Sandu’s position, Stoianoglo struck a more cautious tone than previous pro-Russian leaders in Moldova, advocating ties with “all partners,” including Russia, the EU, the US and China. He insisted that he didn’t oppose EU integration, but dismissed last month’s referendum as a political ploy by Sandu.
In the hours after polls closed, the candidate called for calm regardless of the result, asking the diplomats to be careful in analyzing election tallies, because “Moldova needs peace and not useless conflicts.”
“Sandu’s reelection looked like a tight bet after the first round, but the president managed to regain energy and enthusiasm — and mobilize, including voters from other camps,” said Radu Magdin, a political analyst and head of Smartlink Communications.
After Moldova’s vote two weeks ago, in which Sandu secured a first-round victory, the president denounced Russian tampering, citing accusations that some 150,000 voters had been paid off. She called it “fraud of unprecedented scale.” The Kremlin has denied any meddling.
One of Europe’s poorest nations, Moldova began EU accession talks this year after securing candidacy status alongside Ukraine in 2022. 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 in the more than three decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union, has sought to thwart the country’s Western path. With the US and EU accusing Moscow of meddling in the elections, the chief Moldovan negotiator with the EU last month said Moscow had pumped some €100 million ($109 million) trying to disrupt the votes.
A Harvard-educated economist, Sandu took office in 2020 on a campaign for European integration. She’ll become the country’s first head of state to be elected to a second term in a popular vote. Vladimir Voronin secured a second term in 2005, though under a previous system in which the president was elected by parliament.
“For months, Russia sought to undermine Moldova’s democratic institutions and election processes. But Russia failed,” said US President Joe Biden in a statement on Monday. “The Moldovan people have exercised their democratic right to choose their own future, and they have chosen to pursue a path aligned with Europe and democracies everywhere.”
(Updates with opposition comments in 7th and 8th paragraphs, US President Biden comment in final paragraph.)
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