Moldova voted squarely in favor of EU membership –

Moldovan President Maia Sandu went to cast her vote in the capital Chișinău on Sunday. DUMITRU DORU, EPA / AOP

On Sunday, Moldova voted both in the presidential election and in relation to EU membership. The situation is extremely tight at the end of the vote count.

When about 97.97 percent of the votes had been counted, the supporters and opponents of EU membership were almost equal, and the difference in favor of the non-votes was only a few thousand votes. Hours earlier, the proportion of non-votes was 57 percent.

When all the votes had been counted, EU membership was finally supported by 50.4% of the people. The news agency Reuters reported on the matter.

The referendum was organized on the initiative of the sitting president, Maia Sandu. It is about strengthening the EU membership process as a permanent goal stated in the country’s constitution.

Sandu says in his statement that there is “clear evidence” that criminal groups have bought up to 300,000 votes in the elections. He calls election manipulation “a crime of unprecedented scale”.

– Their goal is to undermine the democratic process and spread fear and panic in society. We are waiting for the final results and will respond with strong decisions, says Sandu.

According to Sandu and his supporters, a fierce influence campaign has been going on during the elections, the background of which is the businessman Ilan Shor, who supports Russia, reports the British newspaper Guardian.

In opinion polls before the referendum, a clear majority of Moldovans supported EU membership.

Sandu won the first round of the presidential election

Sandu won the first round of the presidential election. He had received 41 percent of the vote, while his nearest rival Alexander Stoianoglon received 27 percent of the votes when 96 percent of all votes had been counted.

The two will compete in the second round of the presidential election on November 3. The election victory in the first round would have required one candidate to have received at least 50 percent of the votes.

Stoianoglo, who is favorable to Russia, ran for the elections from the lists of the pro-Moscow Socialist Party. He said he would boycott the EU referendum and said that Moldova needs a new government.