Maia Sandu wins reelection in Moldova’s runoff, carried by diaspora and Chișinău voters

Meduza.io

With 99.73 percent of the ballots processed, incumbent President Maia Sandu has triumphed in Moldova’s runoff election and secured another term in office. At the time of this writing, Sandu received 55.36 percent of the votes against former Prosecutor General Alexandr Stoianoglo’s 44.64 percent.

Ballot data show that Moldovans living in Chișinău and abroad carried Sandu, as Stoianoglo won 51.19 percent of the votes tallied within the Republic of Moldova, according to the news outlet NewsMaker. Sandu had the commanding support of 82.71 percent of diaspora voters. Despite falling behind domestically, she won 57.38 percent of votes in the municipality of Chișinău, Moldova’s main industrial and commercial center.

On Monday, Sandu commented on her victory, saying that Moldvans had delivered a “lesson in democracy worthy of being included in history textbooks.” In a gesture of goodwill to those who supported her opponent, she also promised to be a president for all Moldovans. She said in Russian, “We may hold different viewpoints and speak different languages, but we all want peace, mutual understanding, and a decent life for our children.”

Alongside the first round of the presidential elections, the country voted in a referendum on a constitutional amendment committing Moldova to integration with the European Union. A slim majority of voters endorsed the initiative (50.35 percent versus 49.65 percent) — far lower than polling predicted and well below what Sandu’s supported had hoped for.

For more about the election, check out The Naked Pravda: Moldova’s knife-edge election and E.U. referendum