Moldova’s pro-Western ruling party has decisively won a parliamentary election, widely seen as a stark East-West choice and marred by Russian interference claims.
With nearly all polling stations reporting, electoral data confirmed the pro-European Union Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) secured 50.1 per cent of the vote. The pro-Russian Patriotic Electoral Bloc followed with 24.2 per cent, while the Russia-friendly Alternativa Bloc came third, ahead of the populist Our Party.
The tense ballot on Sunday pitted the governing pro-European Party of Action and Solidarity against several Russia-friendly opponents but no viable pro-European partners. Electoral data indicate the party will hold a clear majority of about 55 of the 101 seats in the legislature.
The election was widely viewed as a geopolitical choice for Moldovans: between a path to the European Union or a drift back into Moscow’s fold.
Cristian Cantir, a Moldovan associate professor of international relations at Oakland University, told The Associated Press that PAS’s victory was “a clear win for pro-European forces in Moldova, which will be able to ensure continuity in the next few years in the pursuit of their ultimate goal of EU integration”.
“A PAS majority saves the party from having to form a coalition that would have most likely been unstable and would have slowed down the pace of reforms to join the EU,” he said.
He added: “Moldova will continue to be in a difficult geopolitical environment characterised by Russia’s attempts to pull it back into its sphere of influence.”
The election day was marked by a string of incidents, ranging from bomb threats at multiple polling stations abroad to cyber attacks on electoral and government infrastructure, voters photographing their ballots and some being illegally transported to polling stations.
Three people were also detained, suspected of plotting to cause unrest after the vote.
