Regarding the ballot, the Spokesperson of the Central Electoral Commission (CEC), Rodica Sirbu, told the press on Sunday that 1,988 domestic polling stations had opened at 5:00 a.m. local time, adding that there has been permanent communication with the heads of those polling stations.
Both the pro-European Sandu and the former Moldovan Attorney General Stoianoglu, who opposes the Chisinau Government policy against Russia, expressed their confidence in reaching a landslide victory in this runoff elections. Earlier, eleven candidates had participated in the first round on October 20, none of whom obtained the absolute majority of votes to win the ballot. In this regard, Sandu got 42.49 percent while Stoianoglu reached 25.95 percent.
On October 20, a referendum was held as well on amending the Moldovan Constitution to include the irreversibility of the country’s European path, which was supported by 50.35 percent.
This result came as an unpleasant surprise to the Sandu election headquarters, which had postponed the briefing three times, in addition to having denounced attempts of meddling in the elections by bribing voters.
However, the outcomes had been confirmed on October 31 by the Constitutional Court, which allowed the fundamental law to be amended.
Over 2,000 international observers, including representatives of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe among other entities, as well as foreign diplomats, have been monitoring the elections. Nonetheless,representatives of Russia and organizations of the Commonwealth of Independent States had not been invited to the polls.
Furthermore, the Government’s authorities have reduced the number of polling stations in Russia from the required 29 to two, which are opened on the territory of the Moldovan Embassy in Moscow. According to the opposition in Chisinau, the obstacles are related to the political preferences of hundreds of thousands of Moldovan voters in Russia, who mostly do not support the pro-Western Government of Moldova.
A total of 231 polling stations in 37 countries will be open for these elections. Moldovan voters in the United States, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland also have the opportunity to cast their vote by mail for the first time.
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