Maia Sandu, the president of Moldova, said this Sunday morning that the vote is not just a “stamp on a piece of paper” but the expression of your “destiny.” That of the citizens of this country (2.5 million inhabitants) will continue to be divided in two, polarized between possible accession to the European Union, about which was asked in a constitutional referendum during election day, and the siren song of Russia. “Pro-Russian formations have campaigned for a boycott of the consultation.” With almost 100% of the vote and missing a handful of votes from foreign ballots, the pro-European option, defended by the Head of State, obtained a pyrrhic victory with a very slight advantage over those who reject the pro-European path. Sandu, with a serious expression, appeared at midnight to read a statement in which he denounced an “unprecedented” attack by criminal groups and “hostile foreign forces” for the purchase of 300,000 votes. “Their goal was to undermine a democratic process. “Sowing fear and panic in society,” said the president. The leader of the pro-European Action and Solidarity Party (PAS) reported the opening of an investigation into electoral fraud. Authorities are expected to provide details about this fraudulent scheme this Monday.
The latest polls predicted that the result of the referendum would be favorable, with support even above 60%, for the reform of the Constitution to protect membership of the community club as a pillar for the future of this Eastern European country. The current negotiations with the EU have been open since December, but the authorities estimate that the process would reach its final stage in 2030, as long as Moldova meets Brussels’ conditions. And if Moscow’s pressure on the population does not have a greater effect.
Moldova’s acting president and presidential candidate Maia Sandu casts her vote for the presidential elections and the referendum on accession to the European Union, in Chisinau, October 20, 2024. Vladislav Culiomza (REUTERS)
“The will of the people must determine their destiny, and not dirty money or lies,” said Sandu in his first speech to the press this Sunday morning, from the Licelul Teoretic Petru Rares educational center, in Chisinau, the capital. , where he cast his vote. Without mentioning it, the re-election candidate was referring to the hybrid campaign directed by the Kremlin through propaganda, disinformation and vote buying. In recent months, the security forces have blamed the Moldovan oligarch of Israeli origin Ilan Shor for hiring tens of thousands of voters and even training nationals in Russian territory, where he resides, to participate in protests and disorders in the country. .
Moldovans were also called upon to elect a president, with Sandu as the favorite. In these elections for the head of state, 51.55% of those who came to vote participated, eight points above the first round of 2020. It was not enough for any of the main candidates to gather more than 50% of the votes. . Sandu, with around 42% of the ballots, will have to compete in the second round with former Attorney General Alexander Stoianoglo, leader of the Party of Socialists, with 26%. In third place was the populist Renato Usatii, with 13% support, followed by Irina Vlah, an independent candidate, who garnered 5%. This new electoral event will take place on November 3.
Election day progressed this Sunday, cold and cloudy, with very modest participation figures. A trickle that kept the sectors of society that want to accelerate the approach to Brussels in tension until dawn. The message from those who spoke at the polling stations before this reporter, invited by the National Center for the Defense of European Integration of Moldova, was clear: more Europe. The pro-Russian speech proved more elusive. “All the problems come from there, from Moscow,” André Moraru, 48, said in the morning, after depositing his ballot at the Licelul Teoretic Petru Rares with his son. “If the EU means more economy, Russia means more misinformation,” said this employee of a car rental company.
Manoli Victor, 35, an engineer, accompanied by his wife, Alina, a 32-year-old teacher, offered a simple explanation for his particular attachment to Europe next to the steps of the same center: “I want better roads for my country.” A practical answer, but very much in line with what Moldova has ahead of it if it continues its commitment to the EU. The improvement of infrastructure is one of the sections included in the 1.8 billion euro package committed by Brussels on the 10th under the name of the Growth Plan. Asked about the Kremlin’s maneuvers, Victor, cautiously, stated: “What they are doing here is not right.” Russia has an effect in Moldova and this couple is a true reflection. They admit that after the invasion of neighboring Ukraine, in February 2022, they prepared things in case they had to flee with their three children.
The battle for the young vote
More than 1.5 million Moldovans went to vote this Sunday. Almost 240,000 did so from one of the electoral posts abroad, where another 1.2 million nationals reside. According to the scrutiny data, the former Soviet republic will have to fight, like many other European democracies, the battle to attract the young vote, closer to the European identity that the referendum precisely sought to reinforce: only 8% of the voters. between 18 and 25 years old exercised the right to vote, according to the Central Election Commission.
Corina Raiu, 40, went early in the afternoon to her polling station, a daycare center in the town of Straseni, northwest of the capital. While watching his son run around in the school park, Raiu explained that he wants to choose the path the country will take for children like his and that, for this reason, he voted for “freedom, stability and the future.” It didn’t take much digging to know that this worker, dedicated to finance at a communications company, checked the yes box on the referendum ballot. She clarified, however, that the attempts at Russian interference, denounced by the authorities, do not directly affect her: “It is not in my head or in that of my friends or environment, but perhaps it is in that of my parents.”
Ten steps from Raiu, Elena Miron, 72, accompanied her daughter, Cristina, a 36-year-old influencer, after having cast the vote as a family. With the laughter that accompanied the first rays of afternoon sun, the young woman admitted that those of her generation are “more open” to the EU than the older ones, which she described as “more manipulable.” “As soon as they talk to them about the pension, for example, it affects them.” Where they may be afraid, where they are vulnerable, he said, is where they are attacked. After nodding, his mother, by way of confidence, shared something that many still agree with in Moldova: “There are still pro-Russian citizens, even in this town, who want to block Europe. But we are going to climb that step.” That rise, for now and after the elections, appears steeper.
