Moldova’s pro-EU party wins parliamentary election fraught with Russian interference claims

CHISINAU – Moldova’s pro-Western governing party won a clear parliamentary majority, defeating pro-Russian groups in an election that was widely viewed as a stark choice between East and West.

With nearly all polling station reports counted, electoral data showed the pro-EU Party of Action and Solidarity, or PAS, had 50.1% of the vote, while the pro-Russian Patriotic Electoral Bloc has 24.2%. The Russia-friendly Alternativa Bloc came third, followed by the populist Our Party. The right-wing Democracy at Home party also won enough votes to enter parliament.

The tense ballot Sunday pitted the governing PAS against several Russia-friendly opponents but no viable pro-European partners. Electoral data indicate the party will hold a clear majority of about 55 of the 101 seats in the legislature.

The election was widely viewed as a geopolitical choice for Moldovans: between a path to the European Union or a drift back into Moscow’s fold.

Cristian Cantir, a Moldovan associate professor of international relations at Oakland University, told The Associated Press that PAS’s victory is “a clear win for pro-European forces in Moldova, which will be able to ensure continuity in the next few years in the pursuit of their ultimate goal of EU integration.”

“A PAS majority saves the party from having to form a coalition that would have most likely been unstable and would have slowed down the pace of reforms to join the EU,” he said, adding that “Moldova will continue to be in a difficult geopolitical environment characterized by Russia’s attempts to pull it back into its sphere of influence.”

The election day was marked by a string of incidents, ranging from bomb threats at multiple polling stations abroad to cyberattacks on electoral and government infrastructure, voters photographing their ballots and some being illegally transported to polling stations. Three people were also detained, suspected of plotting to cause unrest after the vote.