Moldova in tense vote for EU future

Moldovans went to the polls on Sunday in a tense presidential election runoff that could play a key role in the country's European future amid fears of Russian interference.

The vote in a country bordering war-torn Ukraine comes two weeks after a razor-thin "yes" in a referendum on joining the European Union.

Pro-EU incumbent Maia Sandu scored 42.5 per cent of the vote in the first round of the presidential election two weeks ago. Alexandr Stoianoglo, supported by the pro-Russian Socialists and who was fired as prosecutor general by Sandu last year, received 26 per cent.

But Stoianoglo has since gained the support of other defeated candidates and analysts are predicting a close battle, similar to Georgia's vote last weekend when the ruling party won a contested parliamentary election.

In both ex-Soviet republics, Russia has been accused of seeking to sway voters. In each case it has rejected the claims.

Sandu, a 52-year-old fervent pro-Western former World Bank economist, blamed "foreign interference" for the narrow EU vote when 50.35 per cent backed membership. Police said they had uncovered a Russian vote-buying scheme that could have affected up to a quarter of the ballots.

For the presidential second round, polling stations opened at 7am (0500 GMT) and will close at 9pm, with the first partial results expected an hour later.

Ahead of the vote, Sandu's camp intensified campaigning on social media and in door-to-door visits in villages to try to counter any vote buying.

"Let's remain mobilised so that the honest votes determine the outcome of these elections and not the bought ones," Sandu said in a video message on Friday.

In messages sent to mobiles and even broadcast on supermarket loudspeakers, police have been telling people offered money for their votes to refuse.

Police have reported a "massive phenomenon" of people receiving calls, emails, even death threats, to influence ballots. Prime Minister Dorin Recean has called it an "extreme attack... to create panic and fear so that people will be afraid to go out and vote".

Sandu applied for Moldova, which has a population of 2.6 million, to join the EU after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Accession negotiations formally opened in June.

While Stoianoglo, 57, says he also favours joining the EU, he boycotted the referendum, describing it as a "parody", and promised voters a "balanced foreign policy" that would repair links with Moscow cut by Sandu.

His ambiguous EU stance could see Moldova formally maintaining its EU ambitions, but if he wins Stoianoglo may take decisions that thwart them, analysts say.

When voting on Sunday, he said he wanted to create "a Molodva that does not beg, but develops harmonious relations with both East and West".

"I have no relations with the Kremlin, nor with representatives of other states, nor with special services," said Stoianoglo, who usually gives speeches that mix Russian with Romanian, the official language.

As for the accusations of electoral fraud, he insisted that he was not involved.

"I have never participated in vote buying, the party that supports me in this election does not participate in vote buying," he said.