{"id":3920,"date":"2025-09-29T10:04:05","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T14:04:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/?p=3920"},"modified":"2025-09-29T10:04:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T14:04:07","slug":"moldovas-pro-eu-party-wins-clear-parliamentary-majority-defeating-pro-russian-groups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/?p=3920","title":{"rendered":"Moldova\u2019s pro-EU party wins clear parliamentary majority, defeating pro-Russian groups"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) \u2014 Moldovans gave the country\u2019s pro-Western governing party a clear parliamentary majority in a weekend election, defeating pro-Russian groups in a vote<\/a> widely viewed as a stark choice between East and West.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

European leaders on Monday hailed Moldovans for re-affirming their commitment to a Western path and future membership in the European Union in the face of alleged Russian interference. The country is small in size and population but with outsized geopolitical importance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou made your choice clear: Europe. Democracy. Freedom,\u201d European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a post on X. \u201cNo attempt to sow fear or division could break your resolve.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Landlocked between war-torn Ukraine and EU and NATO member Romania, Moldova<\/a> was a Soviet republic until it proclaimed independence in 1991. In recent years it has taken a clear Westward path, turning the country into a geopolitical battleground between Russia and Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The outcome of Sunday\u2019s high-stakes ballot was noteworthy considering Moldovan authorities\u2019 repeated claims that Russia was conducting a vast \u201chybrid war\u201d to try to sway the outcome and seize power in Chisinau. Moldova applied to join the EU in 2022 in the wake of Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and was granted candidate status that year. Brussels\u00a0agreed to open accession negotiations<\/a>\u00a0last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The election results<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

With nearly all polling station reports counted on Monday, electoral data showed the pro-EU Party of Action and Solidarity, or PAS, securing 50.1% of the vote, while the pro-Russian Patriotic Electoral Bloc won 24.2%. The Russia-friendly Alternativa Bloc came third, followed by the populist Our Party. The right-wing Democracy at Home party also won enough votes to enter parliament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tense ballot Sunday pitted the governing PAS<\/a> against several Russia-friendly opponents but no viable pro-European partners. Electoral data indicate the party will hold a clear majority of about 55 of the 101 seats in the legislature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the PAS campaign headquarters on Monday morning in the capital Chisinau, party leader Igor Grosu described the election as another battle against \u201cenemies of our country that once seemed impossible to defeat,\u201d saying the race was a \u201cfinal battle for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was not only PAS that won these elections, it was the people who won,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Russian Federation threw into battle everything it had that was most vile \u2014 mountains of money, mountains of lies, mountains of illegalities. It used criminals to try to turn our entire country into a haven for crime. It filled everything with hatred.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Building a new government<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

After a legislative election, Moldova\u2019s president nominates a prime minister, generally from the leading party or bloc, which can then try to form a new government. A proposed government then needs parliamentary approval.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is considered likely that President Maia Sandu, who founded PAS in 2016, will opt for some continuity by once again nominating pro-Western Prime Minister Dorin Recean, an economist who has steered Moldova\u2019s government through multiple crises since 2023<\/a>. Recean has also previously served as Sandu\u2019s defense and security adviser.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking to reporters at the PAS campaign building, Recean said Moldovans \u201cdemonstrated that their freedom is priceless and their freedom cannot be bought, their freedom cannot be influenced by Russia\u2019s propaganda and scaremongering.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe major task right now is to bring back the society together, because what Russia achieved, is to produce a lot of tension and division in society,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sandu said on Monday that the outcome proved Moldovans \u201ccan unite when our country\u2019s future is at stake\u201d but that the victory must benefit all citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMoldova is our common home,\u201d she said. \u201cWe all share the same hopes: to live in peace and freedom, and to offer our children a safe future here, at home. The surest path to those goals is the European path. Yesterday\u2019s vote is a strong mandate for Moldova\u2019s EU accession.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout this campaign, the Kremlin sought to divide us, to undermine our trust \u2014 in the state, in our institutions, in one another, and in our ability to resist,\u201d she said. This election showed that yes, we have vulnerabilities, but also capable institutions and dedicated people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The alleged Russian schemes included orchestrating a large-scale vote-buying scheme, conducting more than 1,000 cyberattacks on critical government infrastructure so far this year, a plan to incite riots around Sunday\u2019s election, and a sprawling disinformation campaign online<\/a> to sway voters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had spoken to President Sandu on the phone and congratulated her on what he called \u201ca very important victory\u201d for Moldova.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRussian subversion, constant disinformation \u2013 none of this worked,\u201d Zelenskyy said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bomb threats and cyberattacks on election day<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Election day was dogged by a string of incidents, ranging from bomb threats at multiple polling stations abroad to cyberattacks on electoral and government infrastructure, voters photographing their ballots and some being illegally transported to polling stations. Three people were also detained, suspected of plotting to cause unrest after the vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Igor Dodon, a former president and a member of the pro-Russian Patriotic Electoral Bloc, called for a protest in front of the Parliament building on Monday after alleging, without presenting any evidence, that the ruling PAS meddled with the vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAS campaigned on a pledge to continue Moldova\u2019s path toward EU membership by signing an accession treaty to the 27-nation bloc by 2028, doubling incomes, modernizing infrastructure, and fighting corruption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An unambiguous victory<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Cristian Cantir, a Moldovan associate professor of international relations at Oakland University in Michigan, told The Associated Press that PAS\u2019s victory is \u201ca clear win for pro-European forces in Moldova, which will be able to ensure continuity in the next few years in the pursuit of their ultimate goal of EU integration.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA PAS majority saves the party from having to form a coalition that would have most likely been unstable and would have slowed down the pace of reforms to join the EU,\u201d he said but added: \u201cMoldova will continue to be in a difficult geopolitical environment characterized by Russia\u2019s attempts to pull it back into its sphere of influence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some 1.6 million people, or about 52.1% of eligible voters cast ballots, according to the Central Electoral Commission, with 280,000 of them coming from votes in polling stations set up abroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Kremlin on Monday said \u201chundreds of thousands\u201d of Moldovans living in Russia were unable to vote in the election due to an alleged lack of polling stations set up in the country. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said it was \u201cobviously insufficient and couldn\u2019t give everyone the opportunity to vote,\u201d without providing further details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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