The pro-EU Moldova party won the election after the campaign with an alleged Russian interference

The Moldova pro-European ruling party won a resounding victory over its Russia rival in a key parliamentary election, the results showed a major boost for the country’s attempt on Moscow’s orbit on Moscow orbiting the country.

On Sunday, the surprisingly solid performance by the action and solidarity party of President Maia Sandu (PAS) against the Patriotic Electoral Bloc was a relief for the government and its European partners, who accused Moscow of seeking to influence the vote.

With almost all the votes counted, the PAS had won 50.2%, compared to 24.2% for the patriotic block, which had sought to direct Moldova – a small former Soviet republic wedged between Ukraine and the EU Romania – closer to Russia.

Certain polls conducting in the elections have placed the plunge and the patriotic block at the elbow, with neither of the two likely to obtain a majority. The almost final statement of the Moldova Electoral Commission allows the government to put pressure on its objective of the EU by 2030.

“The inhabitants of Moldova have spoken and their message is strong and clear,” said António Costa, president of the European Council which represents the 27 EU member states, on X.

“They chose democracy, reform and a European future, faced with the pressure and interference of Russia,” he added.

Russia denies interference

In a joint declaration, the leaders of France, Germany and Poland congratulated Moldova “for the peaceful conduct of the elections, despite unprecedented interference from Russia, including with the voting purchasing plans and disinformation”.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy also praised the result of Sunday elections, saying that Moscow had not “destabilized” Moldova.

Moldova, with a population of 2.4 million inhabitants, has long fogled between Russia and Europe.

The patriotic block and other opposition groups had sought to exploit voters’ anger at economic pain and the slowness of the reforms – the grievances have aggravated by what those responsible have been a generalized disinformation.

Inflation remains stubbornly high at around seven percent, while Moldovans also increase higher costs for imported energy.

Responding to the difficult EU membership criteria will be very difficult for Moldova, one of the poorest countries in Europe.

Russia has denied mixing Moldova elections.

The Kremlin accused Moldovan authorities on Monday of preventing hundreds of thousands of Moldovans living in Russia to vote in the elections.

“Hundreds of thousands of Moldovans have been deprived of the opportunity to vote in the Russian Federation due to the fact that only two polling stations were open to them,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

When asked if Moscow had recognized the results, Peskov noted that certain Moldova political forces had spoken of violations.

“First, the Moldoudans themselves should probably settle this. As far as we know, some political forces declare their disagreement. They speak of any violations of the elections,” he said.

About 500,000 Moldovan citizens live in Russia, according to officials from the Russian government.

According to the Moldovan authorities, just over 4,000 votes were expressed in Russia, two thirds of which were for the main pro-Russian block. On the other hand, Moldovan citizens living in Germany expressed more than 38,000 votes in 36 different polling stations, most of them in support of the ruling party.

Leonid Slutsky, head of the International Affairs Committee in the Russian Parliament, said on the telegram that there had been “violations of electoral and freedoms, large -scale purges of political space and flagrant flifies”.

“The Sandu regime leads Moldova on the way to Ukraine.”

Opposition figure calls for protest

The Moldavian voter for the first time, Ana-Maria Orsu, 18, said that she had noticed that many young people like she had turned out to vote.

“I think we have a bright future ahead of us,” she said at the center of the Chisinau capital early on Monday.

The leaders of the PAS had called the most substantial Sunday elections since the independence of Moldova compared to the Soviet Union in 1991.

The Government of Sandu said that Russia had tried to swing the vote by a generalized disinformation and a purchase of votes.

Stanislav Secrieru, Sandu national security advisor, said that the electoral infrastructure and government websites had been under cyber attack, and that false bomb threats were called in polling stations in Moldova and abroad.

On the other hand, Russia accused the pro-EU Camp in Moldova trying to manipulate the outcome of the elections.

On Sunday, the Patriotic Co-Leader Bloc, Igor Dodon, a former Moldovan president, called for demonstrations the next day before the Parliament, saying that Sandu was planning to cancel the vote. He did not provide proof.

The authorities, who had also warned against the attempts supported by Russia to stir the troubles after the vote, will watch closely to see if Dodon follows the threat and the crowd he can command if he does it.