Citizens of the Republic of Moldova voted in large numbers on Sunday, both at home and abroad, in the two elections – the presidential elections and the republican constitutional referendum with the question “Do you support amending the Constitution in order to join the European Union?”.

Maia Sandu wins first round – close fight in second round

In the race to elect the next head of state, Maia Sandu, the incumbent president, had 636,039 votes (41.92%) after 98.29% of the votes were counted, followed by Alexandr Stoianoglo (26.35%) and Renato Usatii (13.73%), both representing the pro-Russian camp. The second round of voting is scheduled for 3 November, with Maia Sandu, an independent candidate backed by the Action and Solidarity Party (PAS), and Alexandr Stoianoglo, backed by the pro-Russian socialists, facing each other.

In contrast to the 2019 presidential election, Maia Sandu polled 6 percentage points higher in the first round and will face a lower-ranked challenger. Five years ago, Igor Dodon was starting from around 32%, while former Prosecutor General Alexandr Stoianoglo, under criminal investigation in several cases, is starting from around 26% of the votes obtained in the first round.

What will be crucial will be the recommendation of the third-placed candidate, the leader of the Our Party, Renato Usatii, who got about 14% of the vote, as well as the mobilisation of the two camps – pro-Europeans and pro-Russians.

EU referendum passes with diaspora votes

The threshold for the validation of the constitutional referendum (33.3% of the total number of voters in Moldova) has been reached and the latest information shows that the “YES” camp will win by a difference of only a few thousand votes.

Preliminary data presented by the Central Electoral Commission show that the majority of Moldovans living in Moldova voted “NO” in the referendum. The massive pro-EU vote in the diaspora seems likely to overturn the result.

Incumbent Moldovan President Maia Sandu on Sunday night claimed “an unprecedented attack on freedom and democracy” and accused the tenatives of massive fraud. “There is evidence and information that the target of the criminal group was to buy 300,000 votes. The scale of the fraud is unprecedented. The aim was to compromise a democratic exercise. Their aim was to induce fear and panic in society. We will not give up in defence of freedom and democracy. We await the final results and we will come back with decisions,” President Maia Sandu said on Sunday evening.

Once the referendum is passed, the preamble of the Moldovan Constitution will be supplemented with two new paragraphs which will state that the identity of the Moldovan people is European, and integration into the European Union is the strategic objective of the country, according to TV8.md.