By Tom Balmforth and Alexander Tanas
CHISINAU (Reuters) -Moldovan President Maia Sandu promised to ring the changes after narrowly winning a runoff presidential vote, an acknowledgement of the fragile foothold her pro-Western forces have ahead of a parliamentary election next summer.
Sandu, who has pressed the ex-Soviet state’s bid to join the European Union, defeated a former prosecutor general backed by a traditionally pro-Russian party in a vote marred by allegations of election meddling by Moscow, which it denies.
The election also exposed underlying public grievances, and Sandu, who ended up with 55.33% of the overall vote, only won because of strong backing from Moldovans voting from overseas. Within the country’s borders, she lost by a narrow margin.
“I fully understand that this vote was also driven by the need for change – changes that society has been awaiting. I want you to know – I have heard all voices, including the critical ones,” Sandu said in a victory speech.
She pledged to be a “president for all of you”, asking citizens to look past their grudges and dissatisfaction and unite to protect the country, which she said had been targeted by mass interference at the election.
U.S. President Joe Biden congratulated Sandu on her victory, saying Russia had failed to “undermine Moldova’s democratic institutions and election processes.
The Moldovan people, he said, had “chosen to pursue a path aligned with Europe and democracies everywhere”.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova denounced the election as the “most undemocratic” in the country’s post-Soviet history, citing “unprecedented repression of the opposition and independent media”.
She said the outcome exposed a “deep split” in Moldovan society but made no comment on allegations of Russian meddling.
The Socialist Party that backed her rival in the contest, Alexandr Stoianoglo, said it did not view her presidency as legitimate, calling her the “president of the diaspora” and itself alleging widespread falsification.
Police and security officials have said millions of dollars of money poured in to buy people’s votes, part of a plot by Moscow and pro-Russian fugitive oligarch Ilan Shor to skew the election. Shor also denies any wrongdoing.
As Sunday’s vote unfolded, Sandu’s security adviser pointed to reports of Moldovans being brought on organised transport from Moscow to polling stations abroad as well as bomb hoaxes at European polling centres possibly aimed at disrupting voting.
Sandu’s victory prompted a sigh of relief in Brussels, a week after Georgia, another ex-Soviet state seeking EU membership, re-elected a ruling party regarded in the West as increasingly pro-Russian.
“The amount of election interference is striking and a warning sign for what’s to come in countries inside and outside of the EU. For now this is a welcome dose of good news,” one EU diplomat told Reuters.
DOMESTIC AGENDA TAKES CENTRE STAGE
Vitaly Andrievski, a political analyst in Moldova, said authorities need to curb outside interference in time for the parliamentary election, which will determine the government. Sandu’s PAS party is expected to struggle to keep its majority.
But Andrievski said the first priority for Sandu, her government and party was to focus on economic conditions in Moldova, a poor agricultural nation of fewer than 3 million people.
The economy has been buffeted by setbacks since Sandu came to power in 2020, first by the pandemic and then by the 2022 Russian invasion of neighbouring Ukraine, which triggered a huge influx of refugees.
Russia also sharply reduced cheap gas supplies to Moldova, driving up energy prices and stoking high inflation, which hit 32% in 2022. Inflation has now fallen below 5% and the economy is forecast to grow by 2.2% this year after just 0.7% in 2023.
More than a dozen voters who spoke to Reuters outside a polling station in the traditionally pro-Russian autonomous region of Gagauzia, where Stoianoglo won most of the votes on Sunday, voiced disquiet over the state of the economy.
“Prices are high, everything is expensive, everything. The people move abroad, leaving their homes behind,” said Dmitri, 57, who declined to give his surname.
Valeriu Pasha, director of the Chisinau-based WatchDog NGO that analyses Moldovan affairs, said it was wrong to distinguish between voters inside the country and the diaspora.
He noted that Moldovans overseas send remittances, a major source of cash for the economy.
Pasha said Sandu’s government needed to make progress on tackling corruption, reforming the justice system and improving communications with local authorities and people.
He said the election showed Moldova remained vulnerable to outside interference.
“For the parliamentary elections, it will be much harder to prevent the impact of this interference,” Pasha added.
(Additional reporting by Felix Hoske in Chisinau and Lili Bayer in Brussels; Editing by Mike Collett-White, Gareth Jones and Rod Nickel)
