Moldova’s recent elections, marred by apparent fraud, reveal a country deeply divided over its future. President Maia Sandu, a staunch EU supporter, failed to secure an outright victory, with just 42.45% of the vote in the first round, forcing a runoff and drawing votes largely from the diaspora.

Not suspicious at all, where have we seen that before?

The final result was a razor-thin “Yes” vote, with 50.3% of voters in favor and 49.7% against, after a “last-minute spike” in yes votes.

Needless to say, this was not at all a ringing endorsement of either Sandu, who was widely predicted, at least in the west, to cruise home to a first round win, or of the “European Path” and elections that were expected to give a solid result and ensure the stability of the Sandu regime instead show a highly divided population, and almost certainly ensure instability, if not worse, for Moldova.

Moldovans are not happy about their current government’s assault on traditionally friendly ties with Russia. Needless to say, Sandu immediately blamed her failure to secure a first round win, and the narrow referendum result, on “Russian interference” without providing any evidence.

It is of particular concern that nearly 500,000 eligible voters living in Russia were disenfranchised by the provision of only two polling stations in Moscow, and the allocation of only 10,000 ballots. Meanwhile, in the EU, numerous polling stations were available across the

Eurozone, and these votes were critical in the “Yes” vote edging ahead of the “No” vote. As Maria Zakharova, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, noted:

“Their project of integrating the country in the European Union failed to win decisive support”, she said.

While Dmitry Peskov, Russian Presidential Spokesman, said:

“What we see is a mechanically hard-to-explain rate of increase in votes in favor of Sandu and in favor of those referendum participants who favored an EU orientation”

Even more concerning for Sandu and the EU, was the strong rejection of the EU by........

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