Maia Sandu is the winner in the Moldava-elections photograped by Politico.EU.
CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) — Moldova’s pro-Western governing party won a clear parliamentary majority, defeating pro-Russian groups in an election that was widely viewed as a stark choice between East and West.
With nearly all polling station reports counted on Monday, electoral data showed the pro-EU Party of Action and Solidarity, or PAS, had 50.1% of the vote, while the pro-Russian Patriotic Electoral Bloc has 24.2%. The Russia-friendly Alternativa Bloc came third, followed by the populist Our Party. The right-wing Democracy at Home party also won enough votes to enter parliament.
The tense ballot Sunday pitted the governing PAS against several Russia-friendly opponents but no viable pro-European partners. Electoral data indicate the party will hold a clear majority of about 55 of the 101 seats in the legislature.
It is likely that President Maia Sandu, who founded PAS in 2016, will opt for some continuity by nominating pro-Western Prime Minister Dorin Recean, an economist who has steered Moldova’s government through multiple crises since 2023. Recean has also previously served as Sandu’s defense and security adviser, reports Associated Press from Moldava.
PAS campaigned on a pledge to continue Moldova’s path toward EU membership by signing an accession treaty to the 27-nation bloc by 2028, doubling incomes, modernizing infrastructure, and fighting corruption.
After a legislative election, Moldova’s president nominates a prime minister, generally from the leading party or bloc, which can then try to form a new government. A proposed government then needs parliamentary approval.
Some 1.6 million people, or about 52.1% of eligible voters cast ballots, according to the Central Electoral Commission, with 280,000 of them coming from votes in polling stations set up abroad.
