Moldova to vote on EU, No vote chill in referendum

di Sabina Rosset (ANSA) - BRUXELLES, OCT 20 - 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. (ANSA).