Pro-EU party ahead as vote count underway – DW – 09/28/2025

The vote-counting continues apace in Moldova.

With more than 90% of votes counted, the ruling pro-EU Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) has won 46% of ballots versus 27% for the pro-Russian Patriotic Bloc, according to the country’s Central Electoral Commission.

We’re back in Chisinau at the election night headquarters of the Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS), which came to power in Moldova in 2021 on a staunchly pro-EU and pro-Western ticket.

Every now and then, we hear cheers from a room full of party members upstairs. For now, they have good reason to be optimistic: Early results show the party is out in front in the polls, with the pro-Russian opposition in second. 

Pre-election polls showed PAS was projected to lose its majority and the final outcome of the vote is still far from clear.

PAS may find itself in need of coalition partners — something which could complicate the reform process needed for Moldova to become eligible to join the EU.

The pro-Russian opposition has already called for protests on Monday.

There is a heavy police presence on the streets of Chisinau, with law enforcement announcing they detained several people late on Sunday over suspected plans to stir up unrest. 

Moldova’s Central Election Commission said the pro-EU Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) had 44% of the vote after 70% of ballots had been counted.

Meanwhile, the pro-Russian Patriotic Bloc had won 28% of the vote.

The vote count is still underway in most parts of the country.

Moldova’s ruling pro-European Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) has won 40% of the ballots counted so far in the parliamentary election, with 31.5% of the votes going to the pro-Russian Patriotic Bloc, according to the country’s Central Electoral Commission.

These figures come with 28% of votes counted.

Polling stations have closed for Moldova’s high-stakes parliamentary elections, which are crucial for the country’s political future.

Although exit polls were not conducted, preliminary results are expected later today.

The Central Electoral Commission reported that more than 1.59 million people had cast their ballots by 9 p.m. local time (18:00 GMT), accounting for approximately 51.9% of eligible voters.

This figure includes the 264,000 Moldovans who voted at polling stations set up abroad. These stations will remain open until 7 p.m. local time.

We meet people queuing up in the village of Gura Bicului at one of the polling stations where voters from the pro-Russian breakaway region of Transnistria can cast their ballots.

They cross the nearby border and line up to vote, showing the Moldovan ID documents that entitle them to vote despite living in a region controlled by pro-Russian separatist authorities where Russian troops have been stationed for decades. Transnistria is not internationally recognized.

“Yes, I want to be closer to Russia,” one woman tells us. “I think every Transnistrian does. Right?” she asks others in the line. “Right,” she says, answering her own question. In fact, it’s more nuanced than that. Several others say they are not sure what they’ll decide.

When voting is delayed in the afternoon by what officials tell us are server issues, one man from Transnistria tells us he’s sure the Moldovan authorities are trying to stop him from casting his ballot. Voting resumes shortly afterward and he heads inside. 

Many of the people we’ve spoken to here in Moldova told us they had not yet made up their mind who to vote for as they headed into the ballot box. 

That’s the case for 42-year-old Vitaly, whom we meet while he and his family harvest beetroot under the sun in a field in the south of Moldova.

Politics feels far away here, and Vitaly says he feels neutral about whether Moldova should be closer to Russia or the West.

Undecided voters like Vitaly, as well as the lack of polling for Moldova’s diaspora and for those living in the pro-Russian breakaway region of Transnistria, make the results of these crucial elections very hard to predict.

The parliamentary election in the Republic of Moldova on September 28 is not only crucial for the country itself, but it will also be watched closely in capitals across Europe and in Moscow. 

Sandwiched between Ukraine and Romania, which is a member of both the EU and NATO, Moldova has gained major geopolitical significance since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. 

The current government in Chisinau is unequivocally pro-European. 

Pro-Russian opposition candidates blame the government and the EU for the country’s problems.

But what about the people?

Amid economic hardship, corruption, massive emigration in recent decades, and a war in neighboring Ukraine, Moldovans seem to believe that everything will be determined by one question: Europe or Russia? 

Igor Dodon, former president of Moldova and a member of the pro-Russian Patriotic Electoral Bloc, said Sunday’s vote is a day when “the people are not afraid, but others are afraid of the people.”

After casting his ballot, Dodon also dismissed the claims made by his rivals of “massive interference” by Moscow, insisting that “the interference came from the West.”

“We saw this interference through various foundations, through (US billionaire George) Soros and non-governmental organizations that intimidated people. We believe this to be wrong, we are in favor of good relations with the East and the West,” Dodon told reporters.

While the outcome of the vote will not be known until Sunday evening at the earliest, Dodon said it was “already clear that the opposition will win.”

“But President Maia Sandu has indicated that the outcome of the election could be annulled, like it happened in Romania. This is why I am calling on everyone to join the protest at 12:00 at the parliament building, to protect our victory,” he was quoted as saying by Russia’s Interfax news agency.

Moldova, once a part of the Soviet Union, became independent after its collapse. However, Moscow still has troops in the ethnically mixed region of Transnistria, where pro-Russian separatist maintain a Soviet-style dictatorship over some 13% of Moldovan population.

Read our full story on Transnistria here.

Moldovan President Maia Sandu cast her vote at a polling station in the capital, Chisinau, on Sunday morning, warning that the eastern European country could “lose everything it has won” in its fight to break out of Russia’s orbit.

She also accused the Kremlin of “massive interference” and said Moldova was “in danger.”

“Russia wants to take control of our country so that it can use it against Ukraine and the European Union. From here, it could train people for illegal actions or even launch drones, as it does from Belarus,” Sandu told reporters outside the polling station.

Since declaring independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Moldova — a country of 3 million people —— has sought its own path in Europe. But Russia would prefer keeping Moldova within its own sphere of influence.

Why has this small eastern European country become so significant? 

Ahead of the parliamentary election on September 28, DW asked some locals in the largely pro-Russian Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia how they see their future.

In the early 1990s, the region of Gagauzia made a push for independence, which ended when the Moldovan government granted it extensive autonomy in 1994.

Unlike the rest of Moldova, where Romanian is the main language, many people here speak Russian and consume Russian-language media — giving them strong cultural ties to Moscow. 

Polls have opened at voting stations around Moldova. Voting is scheduled to finish at 9 p.m. local time (0600 GMT/UTC).

Moldova’s Central Electoral Commission excluded the pro-Russia party Greater Moldova (Moldova Mare) from participating in Sunday’s parliamentary vote.

The commission said that the Greater Moldova party was excluded following findings that the party was using illegal financing and foreign funding.

Greater Moldova leader Victoria Furtuna said she would appeal the biased decision, the Moldpress media outlet reported.

The decision was made late on Friday. It is the second pro-Russian party to be disqualified amid concerns over alleged Russian interference.

Earlier on Friday, Moldova’s election authority banned the Heart of Moldova party, which was part of the Russia-friendly Patriotic Electoral Bloc (BEP) — one of the main opponents of the ruling Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS).