Moldova's ruling pro-EU party hailed victory in 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 whether to move closer to Brussels or maintain Soviet-era relations with Moscow.
Sunday's elections were seen as crucial for the country to maintain its push towards EU integration, launched after Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
“Russia threw everything dirty it had into the fight … It's not only PAS that won the elections, the people won,” Igor Grosu, leader of the Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS), told a press conference.
The Kremlin on Monday accused the authorities in Moldova of preventing hundreds of thousands of Moldovans living in Russia from voting by providing only two polling stations for the large diaspora.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy congratulated PAS, saying: “Russia failed to destabilise Moldova even after spending huge, huge resources to undermine it and to corrupt whoever they could.”
The leaders of France, Germany and Poland on Monday congratulated Moldova for what they called the country's commitment to democracy and accused Russia of “unprecedented interference” in last weekend's election.
The result was a “loud and clear” message from voters despite Russian meddling, EU chief Antonio Costa said on Monday.
“The people of Moldova have spoken and their message is loud and clear. They chose democracy, reform and a European future, in the face of pressure and interference from Russia,” Mr Costa wrote on X.
With more than 99.5 per cent of ballots counted, PAS, led by President Maia Sandu, had garnered 50.03 per cent of the vote to elect members of the 101-seat parliament.
That compared to 24.26 per cent for the pro-Russian Patriotic Bloc, according to results published on the election commission's website.
The support for PAS was slightly lower than the 52.8 per cent that it won in 2021.
“Statistically speaking PAS has guaranteed a fragile majority,” analyst Andrei Curararu of the Chisinau-based think tank WatchDog.md said after the party took the lead in the count.
But he warned that “danger” had not passed, “as a functional government is difficult to form”.
“The 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,” he added.
Protest call
The ballot was overshadowed by fears of vote buying and unrest, as well as “an unprecedented campaign of disinformation” from Russia, according to the EU.
Moscow has denied the allegations.
Igor Dodon, a former president and one of the leaders of the Patriotic Bloc, has called on people to “peacefully protest” on Monday, accusing PAS of stealing the vote.
“If during the night there are falsifications, tomorrow we won't recognise (the result of) the parliamentary elections … and we will ask for elections to be repeated,” he said on Sunday outside the electoral commission, where he went with some supporters.
Turnout stood at about 52 per cent, similar to that of the last parliamentary elections in 2021.
Voters in the country of 2.4 million – one of Europe's poorest – have expressed frustration over economic hardship, as well as scepticism over the drive to join the EU.
About 20 political parties and independent candidates ran for the 101 parliamentary seats.
'Massive interference'
After casting her vote, Ms Sandu warned of the “massive interference of Russia”.
Moldova's cyber security service said on Sunday it had detected several attempted attacks on electoral infrastructure, which were “neutralised in real time … without affecting the availability or integrity of electoral services”.
In the breakaway region of Transnistria, authorities, in turn, accused Chisinau of “numerous and blatant” attempts to limit the vote of Moldovans living in the separatist territory by reducing the number of polling stations and other tactics.
The government has accused the Kremlin of spending hundreds of millions in “dirty money” 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 “electoral corruption” and “destabilisation attempts”, with dozens arrested.
