di Sabina Rosset
Reaffirmed "the European
identity of the people of the Republic of Moldova" and "the
irreversibility of the European path" declares "integration into
the European Union as a strategic objective": on this question
Moldova has voted, and if the very first projections are
representative it has literally frozen expectations for the
highly symbolic referendum for the change of the Constitution
wanted by pro-European president Maia Sandu, making the No vote
a resounding victory. The vote is not binding for Moldova's
membership in the EU, but if the counting confirms the first
figure it certainly marks a setback in the country's westward
race: at 456 out of 2,219 polled sections, the No vote leads
with 58.1 percent, compared to 41.9 percent for the Yes vote. A
resounding reversal from the 55 percent for Yes predicted by eve
polls, which also inevitably raises big questions about the
capacity of the hybrid war waged by Moscow on Moldovan
territory. The vote from the very first presidential projections
then looks like a bitter victory for Sandu, who leads with 34.1
percent: not only will she have to play it out in the runoff
with pro-Russian socialist Alexandr Stoianoglo, but she brings
home (in 319 out of 2,219 sections) a result far below the
Cbs-Axa poll that saw her at 35.8 percent. The Election
Commission while recording several incidents declared the vote
valid, which saw a rather high turnout: 51.5 percent at 9 p.m.
compared to the 48.3 percent recorded at the same time in the
2021 general election and 45.6 percent in the 2020 presidential
election. Early Monday afternoon there will be an assessment of
the vote by OECD observers. On election day, Moldovan election
authorities reported large turnout at polling stations in
France, Italy, Turkey, Romania, Belgium, or Russia. In Romania,
in particular, there were very long lines outside polling
stations set up in Bucharest at mid-day. The Moldovan Foreign
Ministry also spoke of artificially created queues at the two
polling stations in Moscow to hinder voting operations. The
Moldovan police also reported some serious violations of the
electoral process, reporting in particular 34 incidents such as
photographed, damaged ballots, bought votes, unauthorized
demonstrations, or the organized transportation of voters, and
even cases of hooliganism. Hundreds of arrests in recent days
had been triggered in the last few hours to stop a pervasive
electoral corruption machine. The agit-prop, it emerged in
particular, was unscrupulous in order to destabilize this small
and poor state between Romania and Ukraine, little larger than
Lombardy, 3.5 million inhabitants: a shower of money, 15 million
euros, channeled into the country by fugitive oligarch Ilan
Shor, who in addition to hammering Moldovans with several
Telegram channels (the best-known, Evrasia, has been shut down),
allegedly also thought it best to try to buy the No votes of
130,000 voters. Moscow denies any role, but also adding to the
ominous picture is the presence of some 2,000 Russian soldiers
stationed on its doorstep in the territory of the
self-proclaimed pro-Russian independent republic of Transnistria
(not recognized by the UN countries for which it is formally
part of Moldova), and the very close war in Ukraine.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
