Maia Sandu celebrates with supporters following the announcement of the preliminary results of the second round of the presidential election, at her campaign headquarters in Chisinau, Moldova, on Nov. 3.Vladislav Culiomza/Reuters
Moldova’s pro-Western President Maia Sandu appeared to have won a second term Sunday in a tightly-run contest against her Russian-backed challenger.
Ms. Sandu’s re-election was seen as critical to setting the direction of a tiny country of 2.4 million people wedged between war-torn Ukraine to the east and NATO member Romania to its west. The 52-year-old former World Bank official used her first term in office to try to definitively pull Moldova out of Moscow’s orbit, loudly criticizing the Russian invasion of Ukraine while pushing for her country to join the European Union.
With more than 97 per cent of precincts reporting, Ms. Sandu had won just over 54 per cent of the vote, putting her on course to defeat challenger Alexandr Stoianoglo, who favours closer ties with Russia and campaigned on the suggestion that a second Sandu term could see Moldova dragged into the war in Ukraine.
“Today, dear Moldovans, you have given a lesson in democracy worthy of being written in history books. Today, you have saved Moldova! In our choice for a dignified future, no one lost,” Ms. Sandu said in a victory speech Sunday. She said the result had come despite “interference in electoral processes by hostile forces from outside the country.”
The victory for Moldova’s pro-Western camp came one week after the pro-Russian ruling party won parliamentary elections in Georgia – another country that gained its independence from Moscow with the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union – using a similar campaign that suggested voting for pro-Western parties could lead to war with Russia.
The Kremlin has meddled in the politics of both countries ever since the demise of the USSR. In addition to backing pro-Russian political parties, Moscow maintains 1,500 troops in the breakaway region of Transnistria, which has been outside of the Moldovan government’s control since a 1992 war.
Ms. Sandu’s victory was less convincing than in 2020, when she won 58 per cent of the vote, and suggests her Party of Action and Solidarity could struggle to hold on to its majority in parliamentary elections scheduled for next year.
With more than 97 per cent of precincts reporting, Ms. Sandu had won just over 54 per cent of the vote, putting her on course to defeat challenger Alexandr Stoianoglo. Moldovan elections were held at the Embassy of Moldova in Kyiv, Ukraine on Nov. 3.Olga Ivashchenko/The Globe and Mail
She was re-elected Sunday despite evidence of large-scale Russian interference. Videos posted online showed planeloads of people waving Moldovan passports as they were being flown from Russia to Belarus, Azerbaijan and Turkey in what appeared to be an organized effort to rally the anti-Sandu vote in the Moldovan diaspora, which played a decisive role in the first round of the election two weeks ago.
Russian state media also broadcast footage showing long queues of voters outside the Moldovan embassy in Moscow, and there was a kilometres-long line of cars at the one of the main crossings between Transnistria and the rest of the country. There were no polling stations in Transnistria, which has its own unrecognized government, but residents were allowed to vote in other parts of Moldova.
Meanwhile, there appeared to be an effort to scare Moldovans living in Western countries into not voting, as fake bomb threats were called in to Moldovan embassies and consulates in Germany, Britain, France, Spain and Romania during voting hours.
“We’re seeing massive interference by Russia in our electoral process as Moldovans vote in the presidential runoff today – an effort with high potential to distort the outcome,” Stanislav Secrieru, Ms. Sandu’s national security adviser, wrote on social media. “Authorities are on high alert.”
Moldova’s IPN press agency reported that police were investigating the possible organized transportation of voters, which is illegal under the country’s electoral law. The Kremlin has denied previous accusations of interfering in Moldovan politics, and says Ms. Sandu and her government are “Russophobic.”
Ms. Sandu led after the Oct. 20 first round with 42 per cent of the vote, but she fell short of the 50 per cent required to win the race outright. Mr. Stoianoglo, a 57-year-old former prosecutor, qualified for Sunday’s runoff by finishing second among the field of 11 candidates, with 26 per cent of the vote.
Ms. Sandu was carried to victory by the Moldovan diaspora, nearly 80 per cent of whom voted in her favour. The diaspora – who make up almost 20 per cent of the entire voter base as Moldova’s struggling economy has forced hundreds of thousands of people to seek work abroad – also played a crucial role in a referendum, also held on Oct. 20, that saw a tiny majority of 50.4 per cent vote to officially enshrine the goal of seeking EU membership in the country’s constitution.
Nearly 77 per cent of the diaspora voted in favour of the EU, while only 45 per cent of voters living inside Moldova supported the option.
Overall voting on Sunday was a record 54 per cent, up from 52 per cent in the first round. The rise was driven by another surge in diaspora voting, with 300,000 Moldovans casting their ballots abroad, up from 240,000 in the first round.
Mr. Stoianoglo actually held a narrow lead through much of Sunday night’s vote count, only to see Ms. Sandu surge ahead as results from the diaspora came in. Despite the voting day tensions, Mr. Stoianoglo urged his supporters to accept the result.
“There is no room for senseless conflicts in the future of our country. There is room for unity and mutual respect. Let us preserve the energy of this moment and together build a peaceful and prosperous Moldova,” he wrote on social media.
Voting went smoothly at the Moldovan embassy in Kyiv on Sunday, where most of the voters interviewed by The Globe and Mail said they had cast their ballots for Ms. Sandu in hopes of preventing their country from falling back under Moscow’s influence.
Lena Khodakivska, 47, and Irina Subbota, 35, vote in the Moldovan elections at the embassy in Kyiv on Nov. 3. It was Ms. Khodakivska's first time voting.Olga Ivashchenko/The Globe and Mail
“It’s a unique situation in Moldova right now – we’re deciding which direction we will take,” said Lena Khodakivska, a 47-year-old Christian missionary who said she was voting for the first time in her life and had supported Ms. Sandu “because she’s against Russia and I don’t want Russia to control Moldova.”
However, Ms. Khodakivska was nervous that Ms. Sandu would lose. She said many of her relatives in the southern Gaugazia region of Moldova were planning to vote for Mr. Stoianoglo. “They’re scared that if you vote for Maia Sandu, the Russians will come and there will be a war.”
Arslan Safarmatov, 54, votes in the Moldovan elections at the embassy in Kyiv on Nov. 3. Mr. Safarmatov believes the election in his home country is already an extension of the war in Ukraine.Olga Ivashchenko/The Globe and Mail
To Arslan Safarmatov, who arrived at the Moldovan Embassy in Kyiv wearing combat fatigues, the election in his home country is already an extension of the war in Ukraine. A veteran of the 1992 war in Transnistria, Mr. Safarmatov is now one of about 1,500 foreigners fighting against the Russian invasion as part of the International Legion for the Defence of Ukraine.
“Right now, the destiny of our country is being decided,” the 54-year-old said after casting his ballot for Ms. Sandu. “The Russians are trying to capture our country without a battle.”