North Macedonian presidential candidate Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova held a big lead over incumbent Stevo Pendarovski with votes counted from 99.03% of polling stations on Thursday, but both were short of the 50% backing needed to win outright. Siljanovska-Davkova of the rightist VMRO-DPMNE had 40.08% of votes while pro-European Pendarovski, who has the support of the Social Democratic party, stood at 19.93%, the State Election Commission said.
Moldova's pro-European President Maia Sandu said on Sunday she intends to run for a second presidential term in late 2024 to bring the issue of the country's European integration to its logical conclusion. "We still have important steps to take and I pledge to continue, if you will give me your trust for a new term," Sandu said in a statement published on the presidential website. Sandu, a former World Bank economist who favours closer ties with the European Union, defeated the pro-Moscow incumbent Igor Dodon in a run-off vote in December 2020.
The party of Moldova's pro-European president came first in hundreds of weekend local elections but was unable to win mayoral seats in the biggest cities, including the capital Chisinau, according to preliminary results on Monday. Sunday's elections to pick 12,000 local officials nationwide, including the mayor of Chisinau, were seen as a test of President Maia Sandu's pro-European course and took place amid allegations of Russian meddling, which Moscow denies. Sandu's ruling Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) won more than 40% of the votes cast for mayors, city councillors and district and village councils nationwide.
Moldova’s ruling pro-European party has lost a bid for the mayorship of the country’s capital and other key cities despite victories in many areas in local elections that were overshadowed by accusations that Russia was meddling to undermine the vote, according to preliminary results. Lilian Carp of the Party of Action and Solidarity, or PAS, lost out to incumbent Chisinau mayor, Ion Ceban, who won just over 50% of the capital’s vote, according to the Central Electoral Commission.
Moldova's pro-European president, Maia Sandu, accused Russia on Wednesday of "buying" voters in this weekend's local elections by funnelling money to pro-Moscow political parties. Sandu, who has denounced Russia's invasion of Ukraine and accused Russia of trying to oust her in a coup, said Moscow had channelled the equivalent of nearly $5 million in two months in financing for "criminal groups".