Moldova's pro-EU President Maia Sandu ahead in polls as the country attempts to distance itself from Russia

Moldova’s pro-western President Maia Sandu is leading in the country’s presidential election as preliminary results present a bad picture for Russia. On Sunday, Moldovans voted in a runoff election which was seen as a critical indicator of whether the country’s long-term geopolitical alignment would be with Russia or Europe.

In recent years, Sandu has intensified the nation’s efforts to break away from the shackles of Moscow’s influence. She was fighting the polls against Kremlin-friendly political newcomer, Alexandr Stoianoglo from the Socialist Party. With almost 86 per cent of the votes counted, Sandu is leading by a narrow margin of 1 per cent. While the votes of half of the diaspora are still left to be counted, analysts predict that Sandu is all but guaranteed to win re-election.

Early results indicated that the large Moldovan diaspora, accounting for about 20 per cent of the electorate, is overwhelmingly voting for the country’s president, The Guardian reported. The results will provide a significant boost for Sandu and her long-term EU agenda.

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It is pertinent to note that Sandu’s pro-EU position weakened significantly following a referendum she initiated, asking Moldovans whether they supported integration with the regional body. The referendum was eventually passed in favour of the motion but with the tiniest margin on October 20.

The referendum was held alongside the first round of the presidential elections where Sandu received 42 per cent of the ballot but failed to secure an outright majority. The outcome of the Sunday election might be welcoming for the West since it will come a week after Georgia, another ex-Soviet state hoping to join the EU, re-elected a party viewed by most countries as increasingly Moscow-friendly and authoritarian.

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It is pertinent to note that the European Union has pledged to provide a €1.8bn multiyear package for Moldova to help the country on the accession path, the process of which started in June this year. Since then, Sandu has pledged to work ‘day and night’ to make the eastern European nation part of the EU by 2030.

The question of Russian interference

Both the presidential election rounds as well as the EU referendum vote were marred by accusations of Russian interference. For months, Sandu and her allies have accused Moscow and its proxies of leading a large-scale campaign which allegedly involved vote-buying and spreading misinformation to sway the election.

Officials in the capital of Chișinău believed that Moscow invested approximately $100m in the first round of voting and had reportedly smuggled in some of the funds by “money mules” detained by police at the main airport while carrying bundles of €10,000 in cash. “Moldova has had a monumental task before it: just two weeks to stop a sprawling Kremlin-backed vote-buying scheme that proved effective in the twin vote on 20 October,” said Olga Rosca, a foreign policy adviser to Sandu.

The Kremlin, on the other hand, has denied the allegations of election interference. “We resolutely reject any accusations that we are somehow interfering in this. We are not doing this,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.

With inputs from agencies.