Moldova is setting up for the second term of its presidential election, with incumbent pro-Europe candidate Maia Sandu in a struggle to get re-elected against pro-Russia candidate Aleksandr Stoianoglo.
The election is set for next Sunday, after Sandu won 42% of the votes against Stoianoglo’s 26%. However, total votes for other pro-Russian candidates surpassed Sandu’s and other pro-EU ones and Sandu also has a popularity problem, despite polls largely in favour of EU integration. During her tenure she had to coast through COVID and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, plus issues with Russian gas supplies.
Sandu hoped that tying the first round of the presidential election with a pro-EU referendum was going to help her re-election, but it didn’t happen. Her side won the referendum but with a slim majority and Sandu accused Moscow and Russian-backed oligarch Ilan Shor to bribe around 300,000 voters.
Her opponent Stoianoglo is a former prosecutor running with support from the pro-Russia Socialist Party. He said that he would go on with EU integration but he is also in favour of developing ties with Russia as a matter of national interest, calling for a more balanced foreign policy between East and West. Stoianoglo was also critical of Moldova following Western sanctions on Russia.
However, even in case of victory from Stoianoglo, the parliamentary majority will still remain in the hands of Sandu’s PAS party until next summer, hampering any possible big reform that he may want to push through.
Meanwhile the EU monitors the election but remains confident of Moldova’s path towards accession. A senior diplomat in Brussels told Reuters that “the European perspective has the upper hand in Moldova, but Russia will try to derail.”
