Moldova: Pro-Western President Sandu wins runoff election

The pro-European incumbent Maia Sandu remains president in Moldova: In the runoff election for the presidency in the republic on Sunday, the 52-year-old won with around 55 percent of the vote against the Russia-friendly candidate Alexandr Stoianoglu. The election management in the capital Chisinau announced after counting over 99 percent of the ballot papers. Stoianoglo was defeated with 44.9 percent of the votes.

The runoff election was necessary because Sandu failed to achieve the necessary absolute majority in the first round of the presidential election on October 20th.

“Moldova, you have won!” said Sandu after the election results were published on Monday night. “Freedom, truth and justice have won.”

According to the media, after her foreseeable victory, Sandu also addressed Moldovans in Russian and declared that she wanted to be a president for everyone – even for those who had not voted for her. “We need solidarity,” she said.

Sandu won primarily thanks to the votes of hundreds of thousands of Moldovans living abroad – especially in the EU. The head of state from the Action and Solidarity party (PAS) wants to implement reforms in her second term in office in the completely impoverished agricultural country with its 2.5 million inhabitants, which is a candidate for EU membership. The upcoming parliamentary elections in the summer are seen as the next political challenge. Because Sandu can only tackle the changes if she defends the current majority in the popular assembly.

Voter turnout was higher than in the first round on October 20th, at over 54 percent. The leadership in Moldova accused Russia of massive interference on election day. The Kremlin rejected similar allegations in the first round of voting and demanded evidence.

Sandu received the most votes (42.45 percent) among the eleven candidates in the first round. Stoianoglo, who ran for the Socialist Party of pro-Moscow ex-President Igor Dodon, got 25.98 percent.

The 57-year-old also addressed his compatriots in Chisinau in Russian and asked everyone to remain calm. “Moldova needs stability, not artificial conflict,” he said. The time of hatred and division in the country must end. In his home region of Gagauzia, an autonomous region, he even achieved 97.04 percent.

Although Sandu was considered the favorite, she was also criticized for a lack of economic and social progress. Critics accuse her opponent Stoianoglo of being a puppet of corrupt oligarchs and a candidate for Moscow. The West is watching the results closely.

Sandu’s national security adviser Stanislav Secrieru accused Russia of massive election interference. He warned on Platform X about the danger of a distorted result. The authorities were alerted. In the Transnistria region, which has broken away from Moldova and where Russian troops are stationed, there are organized transports of voters to the polls; that was illegal, he said.

Incumbent Sandu’s confidant also published reports about organized transport from Russia on buses and charter flights that flew voters to the Azerbaijani capital Baku, the Turkish metropolis Istanbul and the Belarusian capital Minsk.

Security authorities in the capital Chisinau uncovered disinformation and vote-buying by pro-Russian forces in advance. Several Russian-language television channels and internet platforms were blocked in the country. On election day itself, people in the capital Chisinau reported in conversations with reporters from the German Press Agency that they had received calls last week asking them to vote for Stoianoglo. Some also said that they had been offered money in return.

Sandu also spoke of buying voters after the first round of elections. Two weeks ago, she also scheduled a parallel referendum on anchoring the EU course in the country’s constitution. The supporters prevailed by a razor-thin margin, and the Constitutional Court confirmed the validity of the result. Russia, on the other hand, wants to keep the agricultural country, which is in demand for its agricultural products such as apples, plums, grapes and nuts, within its sphere of influence.

After the start of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, Sandu applied for her country to join the EU in 2022. Accession negotiations began in June this year. The vote in the former Soviet republic was seen as pointing the way towards the question of whether Moldova would turn to Brussels or rather Moscow in the future.

Leading EU representatives and European politicians reacted with relief to Sandu’s re-election. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen congratulated the politician and praised her assertiveness. “It requires a rare kind of strength to overcome the challenges you faced in this election,” von der Leyen wrote on Platform X. “I look forward to continuing to work with you towards a European future for Moldova and their people to work towards.”

The President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, wrote on