Sandu Storms Back: Maia Regains Lead in Thrilling Turn of Events

Where does the pendulum swing in Moldova’s presidential election? The race between pro-European Maia Sandu and her Russian-friendly challenger is extremely close.

A runoff election in Moldova was eagerly awaited, because for the small republic it is about nothing less than a future within the circle of European democracies or a clear change of political direction towards Russian autocracy. The candidates in this runoff presidential election represented two very different courses: the pro-European incumbent Maia Sandu on one side, the Kremlin loyalist Alexandr Stoianolgo on the other.

Maia Sandu won the election. The 52-year-old was celebrated as the winner by her campaign staff on Monday evening in Moldova’s capital, Chisinau. After counting more than 97 percent of the ballot papers, he received 53.53 percent of the votes, according to the electoral commission.

Sunday night it initially looked as if Stoianoglo could win the election. After almost 90 percent of the ballot papers were counted, he received almost 51 percent of the votes, while Sandu only had 49 percent at this point. But the current president’s camp expressed “mild optimism” that the trend could change after the votes from voters living abroad are counted.

And in fact the tide turned as the count progressed. As was the case two weeks ago, Sandu benefited mainly from the votes of Moldovans living abroad, especially in the EU, a large majority of whom have traditionally been on her side.

Sandu received a good 42 percent of the vote in the first round of the election, while EU critic Stoianoglo received just under 26 percent. The European Union (EU) and Russia are fighting for influence in the former Soviet republic. In a referendum also held two weeks ago, a narrow majority voted in favor of joining the EU.

In the run up to the vote, the President had repeatedly warned against vote buying and fraud. Independent observers also spoke of the enormous influence of the Kremlin. Vladimir Putin’s aides are said to have bought hundreds of thousands of votes with a lot of money. Moscow denies meddling in Moldovan affairs.

The election was also overshadowed by several fake bomb threats. Probably the factor that will decide the outcome of the election is the hundreds of thousands of Moldovans who live abroad, especially in the European Union.

The economically weak agricultural state, which lies between EU member Romania and Ukraine, has less than three million inhabitants. When the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 1990s, the eastern part of Transnistria seceded in an internationally unrecognized move and turned to Russia. Russian troops are stationed in Transnistria.