Moldova’s dominant pro-Western Party is on track for a decisive victory and a new majority in Parliament after a significant election with allegations of Russian interference.
Before the vote, President Maia Sandhu warned that Russia had spent “normal euros” to shake up the outcome.
However, with over 99% of votes counted early on Monday, Sandhu’s Action and Solidarity Party (PAS) secured more than 50% of votes far ahead of the patriotic bloc of Russian opposition. If confirmed, the PAS will retain a majority in Moldova’s 101-seat parliament.
Igor Dodan, the patriotic bloc director and president of Sandu’s predecessor, called for protests outside the parliament in Chisinau on Monday. Before the vote, Moldovan authorities warned that once the votes were finished there was a risk of confusion and street violence.
Vote on Sunday, Sandhu said he was “attacking many crises” to Moldova, and she hoped the country “has an opportunity to strengthen democracy, protect space and continue the path of EU integration.”
Sandhu has targeted Moldova’s EU membership within the next five years, warning of dangerous consequences if the 2.4 million Russian influence, adjacent to Ukraine, was 2.4 million.
Sandhu, a former Harvard-educated World Bank official, won the presidential election in a landslide in 2020, and her party pledged the following year to clean up corruption and improve governance. However, that progress was hampered by the security and economic crisis that spilled from Ukraine after the full Russian invasion in 2022.
Sandhu was widely praised for helping Moldova secure EU candidate status in 2023, but was unhappy with the pace of reforms and spiral gas prices after Russia cut off supplies and Moldova called for a new procurement deal with Romania.
However, in Sunday’s election, it means that both Sandhu and her party won the election twice by commanding margins despite widespread claims of Russian interference.
“Moldova has demonstrated that Russia will be defeated against all odds and even in very asymmetric battles,” Oana Popeszamfia, director of the Global Focus Centre think tank, told CNN.
She said that Moldova has repeatedly demonstrated “an incredible level of commitment to a democratic pro-European future,” and that the EU “should show that it is as serious about expanding as its candidates.”
Prior to Sunday’s election, Sandhu accused Russia of trying to shake up the vote to set up more flexibly Moscow through a vast disinformation campaign.
Moldova, which gained independence when the Soviet Union collapsed, was subject to a “tsunami” of Russian cash, cryptocurrency and misinformation, in a campaign aimed at strengthening Russian opposition.
Moscow denied interference.
Moldova’s national security adviser Stanislav Sekuriel said on Sunday that there had been a series of incidents on Election Day, including per-election attacks, false bomb threats to government websites and voting stations overseas, and illegal transport to polling stations.
Moldova’s foreign ministry said polling stations in Belgium, Italy, Romania, Spain and the US were targeted by bomb threats “as part of the Russian Federation’s attack on the election process of the Republic of Moldova.”
Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Recine said cyberattacks have been launched on infrastructure related to the election process, including the Central Election Commission website and “several polling stations abroad.”
“All attacks were detected and neutralized in real time without affecting the election process,” he said in a social media post.
Moldova’s considerable diaspora was extremely important in securing Sandhu’s reelection in 2024, but analysts said Russia has campaigned to demote more liberal voters this time.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
