Transcript of Moldova President Maia Sandu claims election victory despite alleged Russian meddling | BBC News

It has been a big night for one of Europe's poorest countries, Moldova. Their pro-EU President has claimed a second term after a tense election runoff seen as a choice between Europe and Russia. Official figures give Maya Sandu a unassailable lead with nearly all the votes counted. The final result is expected to be declared in the next few hours. Speaking to Thril supporters, she promised to be President for all Moldovans. Moldova Moldova, you are victorious.

Today, dear Moldovans, you have given a lesson in democracy, worthy of being written in history books. Today, you have saved Moldova.

Moldova has been under an unprecedented attack.

Dirty money, illegal vote buying, the interference in electoral processes by hostile forces from outside the country and by criminal groups, lies, sowing hatred and fear within our society. Our people have united, and freedom and the citizens have won. Peace and hope for a better life have prevailed.

Maya Sandu's victory comes just two weeks after a knife edged referendum-backed EU membership. The former Soviet Republic, flanked by Ukraine and Romania, has gravitated between Russia and the rest of Europe. Her rival Alexander Stornoglou, who was backed by the pro-Russian Party of Socialists had promised a closer relationship with Moscow but has denied being a pro-Kremlin candidate. The election outcome was welcome news in Brussels. The European Commission President has already sent her congratulations to Irma Sandu. On social media, Ursula von der Leyen said, It takes a rare strength to overcome the challenges you faced in this election. I'm glad to continue working with you towards a European future for Moldova and its people. The result will probably It may be less welcome in Moscow, of course. During the vote, the Moldovan President's National Security Advisor said there had been massive interference from Russia. The Kremlin denies that. Have a listen to this.

I don't know if there are any direct accusations of Russia interfering in the elections. Russia is not interfering in the electoral campaign of Moldova. We resolutely reject any accusation that we are somehow interfering in this. We are not doing this.

Well, Robert English is the Director of Central European Studies at the University of Southern California. He gave me his assessment of this result.

This is an important victory, but it's not a final victory. We have to be careful not to cast this exclusively in terms of the West or the EU versus Russia. It's really about the economy. A Moldova is a desperately poor country, as you noted in the introduction. What's more, more than a quarter of the population live abroad. In fact, it's more like a third because there's just no work. There's such grinding poverty at home. The Moldovan economy would collapse if it weren't for these remittances that make up over a quarter of GDP. The point is that this party has to prove, it has to reward the voters with substantial economic progress. And that means the EU has to help Moldova much more than it has in the past, or the next election could swing back in Moscow's favor because, of course, Moscow offers cheap energy, cheap credits, and they're very alluring for a country in such desperate poverty.

In this next vote, as it were, the standout vote that she's just won, it was those Moldovians that have moved out of the country that swung it in her favor. So we are hearing, according to reports that we're receiving. Many of those who remain and live in Moldova itself are actually, many of them wanted Russia, a more pro-Russian approach. It will be difficult for her to navigate this, don't you think, in terms of the polarization within Moldova?

It will be difficult. You're exactly right. And of course, the part of the Moldovan population that lives in that breakaway transnister region didn't vote at at all. If you factored all of this in, the country is pretty evenly split. Again, the pro-EU Party, one, it's got another mandate, but it has to prove it's worth it with economic performance because their record is also spotty, and corruption has been rampant in all political parties. I think that the ordinary Mildovan voter is not thinking in terms of the West versus Russia, Ukraine, all of that. They just to want a better life and start seeing some economic development. The EU has to be much more generous and much more thoughtful in its support, or will be back in four years, maybe with the pro-Russian result, as we saw, for example, in Georgia recently. The war is not won, and the victory is temporary. It's one battle in a long war to bring these countries to a more rapid state of development and into the European Union.

Interesting the analysis on the outcome of the election in Moldova.