Presidential election in Moldova: pro-European Maïa Sandu is re-elected for a second term

Emmanuel Macron personally welcomed it on the social network X. The outgoing pro-European president of Moldova, Maïa Sandu, narrowly moved into the lead in the second round of the presidential election, according to results published Sunday evening by the Electoral Commission after the counting of 95% of the ballots. The 52-year-old candidate received 51.6% of the vote, compared to 48.3% for Alexandr Stoianoglo, a 57-year-old former prosecutor supported by pro-Russian socialists, according to our colleagues at Monde. According to his rival, A.Stoianoglo is “the man from Moscow”“a Trojan horse through which others want to rule the country”.

Maïa Mandu is the first woman to occupy the highest positions in 2020 in this former Soviet republic located between NATO and the Russian sphere of influence. This 52-year-old economist turned her back on Vladimir Putin after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

A victory marked by record mobilization

Being an important and decisive election for the future of the country, no less than 300,000 Moldovans from abroad came to the polling stations of embassies and consulates, “a historic record” according to the Moldovan Central Electoral Commission, which counts a total of 3.3 million voters registered on the electoral lists. A victory also marked by the strong mobilization of a rather young, urban and educated electorate.

However, it was not without multiple Russian interference that this election took place. Indeed, the police said they were investigating the alleged establishment by Russia “organized transport” to Belarus, Azerbaijan and Turkey to allow voters residing on its soil to vote in the Moldovan consulates or embassies of these countries. Cyberattacks and false bomb threats also targeted overseas voting operations, according to the same source.