Moldovan diaspora in Moscow showed record turnout for Moldovan election

Almost 10,000 representatives of the Moldovan diaspora in Russia voted at the two polling stations in Moscow (5,000 at each) that were opened to enable them to vote in the Moldovan presidential election.

Source: Moldova’s Central Election Commission (CEC) at a briefing on Monday, as reported by European Pravda, citing Moldovan news outlet Newsmaker

Details: Moldova’s CEC reported that their diaspora in Russia was one of the most active: 4,999 citizens voted at each of the two polling stations in Moscow. Each station had 5,000 ballot papers. 

The Moldovan CEC did not specify what happened to the other two ballot papers – whether they were spoiled or not used.

Overall, there was a record turnout for the elections abroad. More than 328,855 people voted in the second round of the presidential election, including those who voted by post. 

A high turnout was also recorded at polling stations in Italy, France and Romania.

In this election, at the insistence of the Moldovan Foreign Ministry, only two polling stations were opened in Russia, both in central Moscow, at the embassy and the consulate. Since there were not enough people wishing to vote in the centre of the Russian capital, Moldovans were brought in from other Russian cities on the promise that their stay in the country would be legalised.

Moldovans wishing to vote were also provided with tickets to Minsk, Baku and Istanbul – cities that are accessible from Russia where they could also vote for the pro-Russian candidate.

Background: 

• The incumbent president of Moldova, Maia Sandu, was re-elected for a second term with a margin of over ten percentage points over her opponent, the pro-Russian Socialist candidate Alexandr Stoianoglo.
• Sandu’s victory was largely due to strong support from the diaspora. The vote count inside Moldova confirmed that had the votes cast abroad not been counted, Stoianoglo would have won.

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