CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) – Moldova’s pro-Western president was expected to win the first round of the presidential election early Monday, but voters will be asked to decide whether to secure a path to membership in the European Union. He blamed “criminal gangs” for spoiling the vote. There was a risk of being rejected by a narrow margin.
Nearly 95% of votes were counted in the EU referendum, which asked voters whether to enshrine the path to the EU in the constitution. Approximately 52% of the 1.2 million votes cast voted “no” and 47% voted “yes.”
But votes cast among the country’s large diaspora, which are still being counted, tended to favor the EU path.
“Criminal gangs cooperate with foreign powers hostile to our national interests and use the most shameful means to collect tens of millions of euros in order to keep our people and our country locked in uncertainty and instability. They are attacking our country with lies and propaganda.” President Maia Sandu after approximately 90% of the votes were counted.
“There is clear evidence that these criminal groups aimed to buy 300,000 votes. This is a fraud of unprecedented scale,” Sandu added. “Their goal was to undermine the democratic process.”
The two pivotal votes came amid continued claims by Moldovan authorities that Moscow is stepping up “hybrid warfare” operations to destabilize the country and derail its path to the EU. Charges include funding pro-Moscow rebels, spreading disinformation, interfering in local elections and supporting a large-scale vote-buying scheme.
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Sandu was expected to win in the first round of the 11-candidate presidential election with 39% of the vote, but it was unlikely he would win an outright majority. She is likely to face pro-Russian former prosecutor general Alexander Stoianoglo, who has topped opinion polls with about 28% of the vote, in the Nov. 3 runoff.
According to the Central Election Commission, more than 1.5 million voters, or about 51% of eligible voters, cast their votes after voting ended at 9 p.m. local time.
Cristian Cantil, a Moldovan associate professor of international relations at the University of Auckland, told The Associated Press that votes from the diaspora could be crucial at this later stage.
“If I were a pro-EU politician…I would look for signs of good news there,” he said. “I think the ideal scenario for them would have been to have something that showed overwhelming support for the EU, but that just didn’t happen.”
U.S. national security spokesman John Kirby echoed concerns of Russian interference this week, saying, “Russia is actively working to undermine Moldova’s elections and European integration.” The Russian government has repeatedly denied interfering in Moldova.
“Over the past few months, the Russian government has spent millions of dollars trying to influence Moldova’s presidential election,” Kirby said. “We assess that this money was used to fund their preferred political parties and spread disinformation on social media in support of their election campaigns.”
In early October, Moldovan law enforcement announced that they had uncovered a large-scale vote-buying scheme orchestrated by exiled pro-Russian oligarch Ilan Shor, who currently resides in Russia. The scheme involved paying 15 million euros ($16.2 million) to 130,000 people to undermine relations between the two countries. Ballot paper.
Scholl was convicted in absentia last year and sentenced to 15 years in prison for fraud and money laundering in the 2014 disappearance of $1 billion from a Moldovan bank. He denied the charges and asserted his rights, insisting that the payments were legal. Even freedom of expression. Mr. Schor’s populist, pro-Russia Party was declared unconstitutional last year and banned.
Konstantin Serac, 37, a multimedia producer, said in central Chisinau that he voted in favor of Sandu’s integration with the EU because it was “the best way forward” for Moldova. He said that although he was concerned about Russian interference, “I trust the government… to fight them.”
On Thursday, Moldovan authorities thwarted another plot in which more than 100 Moldovan youths received training in Moscow from a private military group on how to provoke social unrest over the two votes. Police said some were taking part in “more advanced training in guerrilla camps” in Serbia and Bosnia, and four were detained for 30 days.
“Moldovans themselves must choose their own destiny, not others, not dirty money or lies,” Sandu told the media after voting in person in the capital on Sunday.
“I voted to allow Moldova to develop in peace and freedom,” she said.
A pro-Western government has been in power in Moldova since 2021, a year after Sandu was elected president. Parliamentary elections will be held next year.
Moldova, a former Soviet republic with a population of approximately 2.5 million people, applied for membership in the EU following Russia’s full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine on February 24, 2022, and was granted candidate status along with Ukraine in the summer of the same year. was given. Brussels agreed to start accession negotiations in June.
Loredana Godrogea, a 29-year-old IT manager from Chisinau, said she also voted in favor of the current president and the path to the EU. “I think over the next five years we will get even closer economically with the European Union. I also think the war in Ukraine will be a big factor,” he said.
