Moldova’s President Maia Sandu has won a second term in office after defeating her rival. With nearly 98% of votes counted in the second round of the presidential race held on Sunday, Ms Sandu had obtained 54% of the total votes, according to the website of the country’s Central Electoral Commission.
This compared with 46% for Alexandr Stoianoglo, a former prosecutor general who was backed by the pro-Russia Party of Socialists.
Alexandr Stoianoglo had promised a closer relationship with Moscow.
During the vote, the president’s national security adviser said there had been “massive interference” from Russia in Moldova’s electoral process that had “high potential to distort the outcome”.
Ms Sandu said in a victory speech that the government needed to prepare the country for parliamentary elections next summer and preserve democracy. She told reporters that she had heard the voices both of those who voted for her and those who voted for her rival.
Moldova, an eastern European country of three million people, narrowly voted for closer ties to the European Union in a referendum last month which was dominated by claims of Russian interference.
Russia had already denied meddling in the vote, which came a week after another key Eastern European election in Georgia, whose president said it had been a “Russian special operation”.
Stoianoglo, who was fired as prosecutor general by Sandu, has denied being pro-Kremlin.
The election was closely watched in Brussels a week after Georgia, another ex-Soviet state seeking membership, re-elected a ruling party regarded in the West as increasingly pro-Russian.