Sore Losers

Moldova has narrowly voted to join the European Union in a referendum and an election marked by allegations of heavy-handed interference by Russia, even as the Kremlin complained Monday of election fraud, reported CNN.

With 99.4 percent of votes counted in the EU referendum, the “Yes” vote took 50.4 percent and the “No” vote won 49.6 percent, according to the Central Electoral Commission. The referendum on Sunday specifically asked voters whether to enshrine a path toward EU membership in the country’s constitution.

President Maia Sandu, who wants to steer the country away from Russia since being elected in 2020, said the results symbolized Moldova’s first step toward joining the bloc.

The former Soviet Republic began talks to join the bloc in June, propelled by Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine. Surveys ahead of the referendum showed that around 55 percent of Moldovans would support joining the EU while 34 percent were against it, according to Deutsche Welle.

However, the win for “Yes” was razor thin, with votes from Moldova’s large and mostly pro-EU diaspora trickling in at the last moment, reported the Associated Press.

Sandu also failed to receive enough votes to win in the presidential election held the same day. A second round of voting will be held on Nov. 3.

Meanwhile, Sandu accused “criminal groups” of engaging in election fraud. She added that these groups were backed by foreign forces trying to “undermine (the) democratic process.”

Earlier this month, Moldovan police foiled an “unprecedented” Russian plot to meddle in the elections, raiding numerous locations where they discovered $15 million that they allege Russia was using to buy 100,000 votes, the Moscow Times reported.

Police have also said that Russian gangs have damaged government buildings in an effort to destabilize the democratic process, Euronews wrote. Vandals spraypainted the country’s Supreme Court, the state-run broadcaster, and the Ministry for Labor and Social Protection, for example.

The Kremlin has denied such allegations. Meanwhile, Russian officials on Monday said the election was “not free” and pointed suspicion over to “a hard-to-explain” rate of increase of votes in favor of Sandu and in support of the “yes” campaign, Reuters reported.

However, EU officials backed the Moldova president. “This vote took place under unprecedented interference and intimidation by Russia and its proxies, aiming to destabilize the democratic processes in the Republic of Moldova,” said Peter Stano, a spokesperson for the European Commission.