Two weeks after the “yes” victory in the EU referendum, Moldovans began voting on Sunday to choose their president and confirm or not their European destiny, in a vote threatened by the risk of Russian interference.
Outgoing head of state Maia Sandu, a 52-year-old fervent pro-Western woman who turned her back on Moscow after the invasion of neighboring Ukraine, faces Alexandr Stoianoglo, a former prosecutor supported by pro-Russian socialists.
Without risking numerical predictions this time, analysts all predict a close battle with, as during the legislative elections in Georgia, another former Soviet republic, fears of Russian interference despite firm denials from the Kremlin.
Ms. Sandu came well ahead on October 20 with 42.5% of the votes but her 57-year-old rival, who collected nearly 26%, can count on the support of several small candidates.
Polling stations opened at 7:00 a.m. (05:00 GMT) and closed at 9:00 p.m., with the first partial results expected an hour later.
– “Honest Bulletins” –
Between the two rounds, the presidential camp intensified its campaign on social networks and in the villages to try to counter the massive vote buying which, according to the authorities, tainted the results of the referendum, which was much more contested than expected. (50.35% for “yes”).
In her final message to the 2.6 million inhabitants, the former World Bank economist called for mobilization so that “honest bulletins” have the last word.
“Don’t give in to crooks”: the message was hammered home in the final days of a tense campaign. “If you are offered money to vote against a candidate, refuse,” the police warned, in telephone warnings or even through loudspeakers in supermarkets.
Opposite, Mr. Stoianoglo, smooth speech where Russian words often mingle with the official Romanian language, promised to be “the president of all”, denying “having relations with the Kremlin” and any involvement “in fraud “electoral elections”.
Coming to vote with his wife and two daughters, he defended “a Moldova which does not ask for alms but develops harmonious relations with both the East and the West”.
– “At a high price” –
This poor country, under European perfusion, is extremely polarized, between on one side a diaspora and a capital mainly in favor of integration into the EU, and on the other, rural areas and two regions, the separatist province of Transdniestria. and autonomous Gagauzia, facing Russia.
In Chisinau, a 56-year-old retiree, speaking on condition of anonymity, Acsenia, regrets that “Soviet overtones continue to permeate to the very core” this former USSR state.
Natalia Grajdeanu, a 45-year-old wedding planner, traveled from Ireland where she lives. “We are a small country with a big heart and we want Europe to be our home,” she told AFP after slipping her ballot into the ballot box.
But others, like Zinovia Zaharovna, 75, refuse to join the EU, insisting on the need to remain “independent”, and speak of their concern to maintain “peace”.
“Many fear being drawn into war,” Andrei Curararu of the WatchDog think tank told AFP. They will therefore prefer “a candidate on good terms with Moscow, seeing in it the guarantee of not being attacked”.
The vote is being closely followed from Brussels to Washington, where there are concerns about Russia's attempt to disrupt the electoral process.
Ahead of the vote, the police reported significant disinformation operations through the sending of false emails and death threats, “a virulent attack” aimed, according to Prime Minister Dorin Recean, at “sowing panic and fear”.
Moldova is “paying a high price” for its decision to cut ties with Moscow, underlines the WatchDog expert. “The pressure is unprecedented and the money spent to carry out these destabilizing activities is colossal,” he said, referring to a total investment of more than $100 million.
With one objective: to bring the country back “into Russia’s orbit”.
