Western-friendly ruling party faces fierce challenge from opposition amid reports of Kremlin interference
Moldovans are due to vote on Sunday in a pivotal parliamentary election that will determine whether the country of 2.4 million people continues on its path towards joining the EU or drifts back into Moscow’s orbit, with widespread reports of Russian meddling.
The pro-western president, Maia Sandu, and her ruling Action and Solidarity party (PAS), which holds a parliamentary majority, face a stiff challenge from the Patriotic Electoral Bloc, an alliance of pro-Russian, Soviet-nostalgic parties led in part by the former president Igor Dodon, whom Sandu defeated in 2020.