(Adnkronos) – The pro-European party in government in Moldova, the PAS, has won the parliamentary elections with over 50 percent of the votes, surpassing its pro-Russian rivals. This is shown by the official results, with over 99.5 percent of the ballots counted. The Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) led by President Maia Sandu obtained 50.03 percent of the votes, compared to 24.26 percent for the pro-Russian Patriotic Bloc, according to the results published on the electoral commission’s website.
Support for Pas was slightly lower than the 52.8% of the votes obtained in the 2021 parliamentary elections. Voter turnout was around 52%, similar to the last election. About 20 political parties and independent candidates ran for the 101 seats in Parliament. “Statistically speaking, Pas has secured a fragile majority,” analyst Andrei Curararu of the WatchDog.md think tank from Chisinau told Afp. But he warned that the “danger” has not passed, “as it is difficult to form a functional government.” “The Kremlin has funded an operation too large to back down and could resort to protests, corruption of Pas MPs and other tactics to hinder the formation of a stable, pro-European government,” he added.
According to the EU, the vote was overshadowed by fears of vote-buying and unrest, as well as “an unprecedented disinformation campaign” by Russia. Igor Dodon, former president and one of the leaders of the Patriotic Bloc, called on people to “protest peacefully” today, accusing Pas of stealing votes. After casting her vote, pro-EU President Maia Sandu warned against “massive interference from Russia.”
In the separatist region of Transnistria, the authorities in turn accused Chisinau of “numerous and blatant” attempts to limit the voting of Moldovans living in the separatist territory by reducing the number of polling stations and resorting to other tactics. The government accused the Kremlin of spending hundreds of millions of “dirty money” to interfere in the election campaign. In the run-up to the vote, prosecutors carried out hundreds of searches related to what the government called “electoral corruption” and “destabilization attempts,” arresting dozens of people.
