

People cast their ballots at parliamentary elections in Chisinau on Sunday. Photo: EPA-EFE/Doru Dumitru

The pro-Moscow PSRM gained the most support in Sunday’s parliamentary elections in Moldova, taking 31.35 per cent of the votes after 98.13 per cent of the ballots were counted, as voters split their loyalties between pro-Russian and pro-European political forces.

Second in terms of votes was the ACUM (NOW) political bloc formed by two pro-European parties – the Action and Solidarity Party, PAS and the Dignity and Truth Platform, PPDA – which obtained 26.16 per cent.

Third was the current ruling party, the Democratic Party of Moldova, PDM, with 24 per cent, followed by the Ilan Shor Party with 8.44 per cent.

Moldova has a mixed political system with 50 seats decided in the general vote and 51 chosen from single-mandate constituencies.

In the single-mandate constituencies, the PDM won 15 mandates, the PSRM 12, ACUM nine, Ilan Shor one, and two constituencies were won by independent candidates. There are still a few constituencies from the total of 51 in which the count is not yet finished.

During the vote on Sunday, dozens of buses with over 30,000 electors came from the breakaway region of Transnistria into Moldovan government-controlled territory to cast ballots.

Their presence was largest in the constituencies along the Dniester river, nearest to Transnistria, but 400 of them were also seen in the centre of Chisinau voting at a polling station at the Gheorghe Asachi high school.

The PSRM and the ruling PDM blamed each other, and filed reports to the Central Electoral Commission claiming votes were bought from the Transnistrian incomers.

The pro-European opposition represented by the ACUM bloc meanwhile claimed that many polling-day violations were committed by their opponents, ranging from vote-buying to threats.

Electoral law had been modified so parties could campaign on election day, even outside polling stations where PSRM, PDM and Sor Party activists gave out flyers and held election posters.

The Central Electoral Commission meanwhile forbade NGOs monitoring the polls from giving press statements and issuing intermediary reports during the day as they have done on previous occasions.

After the polls closed, Promo-LEX, the most influential NGO based in Chisinau, reported over 500 incidents of fraud.

The stakes for the election were unusually high, as the Socialists had vowed to scrap the Association Agreement between Moldova and the EU, effectively pulling the country out of the European sphere.

Pro-European forces campaigned mainly on corruption and on reforming the judiciary, which is widely seen as subordinated to politics in Moldova.

Analysts criticised a bruising election campaign that featured abuses and the use of state resources by the ruling PDM on one hand and Russian involvement in pro-Russian parties on the other.