Moldova chooses EU: all ballots counted

22 October 2024 08:39

The official website of the Central Election Commission of Moldova has published the results of the preliminary count of all ballots cast in the constitutional referendum on the country’s accession to the European Union. This was reported by "Komersant Ukrainian" reports with reference to Yevropeiska Pravda.

A total of 1,488,874 citizens took part in the referendum. The question put to the vote was as follows: “Do you support the amendment of the Constitution for the accession of the Republic of Moldova to the European Union?”

According to the published data, 50.46% of voters (or 751,235 people) were in favour of introducing a provision on the European future of the country into the Constitution of Moldova, while 49.54% (or 737,639 citizens) voted against this decision.

Thus, the gap between supporters of European integration and its opponents was 13,596 votes. This means that the Constitution of Moldova will now contain provisions on its integration into the EU.

However, it is particularly noteworthy that this positive result was made possible by the votes of the Moldovan diaspora. The majority of citizens living in Moldova itself opposed the country’s closer rapprochement with the European Union.

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In particular, after the ballots from 85% of the polling stations, most of which are located in the country, were counted, support for amending the Constitution was slightly above 45%. However, the situation changed when the results from foreign polling stations, where most voters have pro-European views, began to come in.

Even in the capital, Chisinau, 44% of voters opposed the European future, indicating a significant division of opinion among the urban population. In Gagauzia, a region with predominantly pro-Russian sentiment, 95% of voters opposed European integration.

Outside the country, the situation was quite different: 76.96% or 181,254 citizens who voted abroad supported Moldova’s European integration, while only 23.04% or 54,249 people voted against it.

As reported by last Sunday, Moldova held the first round of presidential elections, in which none of the candidates received more than 50% of the vote. The incumbent pro-European President Maia Sandu, who won 42.25% of the vote, and opposition pro-Russian politician Alexandru Stoianoglo, who received 25.98% of the vote, made it to the second round. The Moldovan president said that criminal groups, including from abroad, interfered in the elections and referendum, and Moldova faced an unprecedented attack on its democracy. analysed whether a Russian scenario is possible in Moldova.