The opposition has accused President Maia Sandu’s government of large-scale voter fraud

With all the ballots counted, Moldova’s pro-EU Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) has secured a narrow majority in a parliamentary contest widely billed as a turning point in the nation’s history. The ruling party lost to the opposition in the vote inside the country, but was able to edge into the lead after counting the ballots of the Moldovan diaspora.

According to preliminary results, PAS has secured 50.2% of the ballots, edging in front of the Patriotic Electoral Bloc (BEP) and other opposition forces, who jointly got 49.8%. 

Out of 301 foreign polling stations, Chisinau opened just two in Russia. Only about 4,100 votes were counted there, despite hundreds of thousands of Moldovan citizens living in the country. Long lines formed in Moscow throughout the day, and after the stations closed, many people were still outside waiting to cast their ballots.

The residents of the predominately Russian-speaking breakaway region of Transnistria have complained that the authorities in Chisinau blocked bridges across the Dniester River to prevent them from reaching polling stations. 

Officials in Chisinau and Brussels presented the election as a democratic milestone, while the opposition contends the script has been pre-written. The race pits President Maia Sandu’s PAS against the BEP, which is campaigning for Moldova’s constitutional neutrality.

Sandu, first elected in 2020 and narrowly re-elected in 2024, has faced recurring claims of presiding over electoral irregularities. Opposition groups insist that decisive votes last year came from Moldovans living in EU countries. At the same time, Moscow accused Chisinau of disenfranchising citizens living in Russia, where only a handful of polling stations were opened compared with hundreds across Western Europe.

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Just days ahead of the vote, the Central Election Commission barred two more opposition parties – Greater Moldova and Heart of Moldova – accusing them of taking undeclared foreign funds and violating campaign rules. They join a growing list: the Victory Bloc was deregistered earlier in 2025, and the SOR Party was dissolved by the Constitutional Court in June 2023.