The current president of the country, Maia Sandu, won the elections in Moldova.
According to the results of counting 99.64% of the ballots, Sandu received 55.32% of the votes, and her opponent Alexander Stoianoglo – 44.68%.
Moldova you won! Today, dear Moldovans, you taught a lesson in democracy worthy of being written in history books. Today you saved Moldova! No one lost in our choice of a worthy future,” Sandu said.
Voice of America highlighted 5 features of this election.
Voice of the Diaspora
According to the World Bank 2023, the population of Moldova was 2,486,891.
At the same time, according to the Ministry of Legal Affairs and European Integration of Moldova, from 1.11 million to 1.25 million Moldovan citizens live abroad.
Votes from polling stations abroad have a significant impact on voting results.
The Central Election Commission of Moldova reported that voting on November 3 took place at 231 polling stations abroad.
The most active were two polling stations in Moscow, where 4,999 voters were registered, as well as in Italy in the cities of Brescia – 4,463, in Padua – 4,289, in Vicenza – 3,673, in Venice – 3,632, in Verona – 3,55 .
Also on that list are the Romanian capital Bucharest – 4,433 voters, the French capital Paris – 4,012 and the French city of Villeneuve-Saint-Georges – 3,652 voters.
Romanian passports
Both finalists in the presidential elections, in addition to Moldovan citizenship, have Romanian citizenship.
Many Moldovan residents took advantage of the right to obtain passports from neighboring Romania, which gave them the possibility of free movement and employment and other rights of citizens of an EU country.
Reuters, citing official sources, writes that approximately 1.5 million Moldovan citizens have passports of other countries – most of all Romania, Russia and others, such as Bulgaria.
Voices from Transnistria
Also a factor in the Moldovan elections are the votes of citizens from Transnistria, a region that declared itself a separate Transnistrian Moldavian Republic after a conflict in the early 1990s.
No country has recognized Transnistria’s statehood, but the DMR enjoys significant Russian support and maintains a Russian military base with large weapons depots left over from Soviet times.
The Moldovan government does not establish polling stations in Transnistria, and citizens with Moldovan passports must travel to polling stations in government-controlled Moldovan territory to vote.
A significant part of the population of Transnistria is made up of ethnic Ukrainians. The Ukrainian language has been declared official in the PMR along with Russian and Moldavian.
Gagauzia
Mai Sandu’s opponent, Alexander Stoianoglo, comes from Gagauzia, an autonomous territory in the south of Moldova.
In Gagauzia, whose population is approximately 150 thousand, Stoianoglo enjoys full support and collected more than 90% of the votes there in the last presidential elections.
The European Union imposed sanctions on Gagauzian leader Evgenia Gutsul in October 2024, accusing her and others of trying to destabilize Moldova.
Evgenia Gutsul went to Moscow in March 2024 to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and stated that she had secured the support of Moscow in opposition to the Moldovan government.
Billionaire in Russia
A significant factor in Moldova is the billionaire Ilan Shor who fled to Russia amid allegations of corruption.
A Moldovan court sentenced him to 15 years in prison for his involvement in the disappearance of $1 billion from the Moldovan banking system.
Shor lives in Moscow and, in particular, he is accused of participating in identified cases of bribery of Moldovan voters.
Under the name of the billionaire, the Shor party led by him has operated in Moldova since 1998, and was banned in 2023. The US and EU imposed sanctions on Ilan Shor and his accomplices.
Source: Racurs
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.