The pro-Western party remained in power only by abusing administrative resources, the Russian foreign minister has said
Moldova’s parliamentary elections on Sunday, in which the pro-EU PAS party narrowly secured a majority, were marred by blatant “fraud” and manipulations, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.
The PAS party, led by pro-Western President Maia Sandu, secured 50.2% of the vote, with the opposition parties narrowly trailing behind with 49.8%. The Patriotic Electoral Bloc alliance, which advocates for closer ties with Russia and constitutional neutrality, came second with 24.2%.
The voting, however, was marred by uneven access to voting. Only two polling stations were opened in Russia, despite the country hosting one of the largest Moldovan diaspora communities in the world, which numbers up to 500,000 people. As a result, only around 4,100 votes were counted in Russia. Meanwhile, dozens of polling stations were opened in Italy – where the Moldovan diaspora tends to be more pro-EU – enabling tens of thousands to submit ballots.
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