Moldovan President Maia Sandu declared victory in a crucial election on Sunday, a win that would bolster her ambition to steer the former Soviet republic into the EU by the end of the decade.
The ex-World Bank official’s re-election bid was a test of the resilience of pro-EU sentiment in Europe’s eastern periphery. A string of recent ballots laid bare gains in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s efforts to halt a turn to the West.
“We proved that united we can defeat those who wanted to bring us to our knees,” Sandu told reporters early yesterday in Chisinau.
Photo: REUTERS
Sandu secured more than 55 percent of the vote with preliminary results from 99 percent of polling stations tallied, according to the country’s Central Electoral Commission.
She led Alexandr Stoianoglo, a former top prosecutor who pledged to maintain strong ties with the Kremlin. The count included a record number of votes from Moldovans abroad, who have strongly supported Sandu.
Sandu, 52, has vowed to press ahead with Moldova’s EU aims even as she confronts a fragmented public and fierce resistance from Russia. She has accused Moscow of meddling in the country’s democratic process. Moldovan authorities on Sunday cited “massive interference” from Moscow intended to disrupt the ballot.
The EU yesterday welcomed the re-election of Sandu.
“Moldovans have shown once again their determination to build a European future despite hybrid attempts to undermine democracy,” EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell wrote yesterday on X.
European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen also congratulated Sandu on her re-election and the country’s “European future.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy also congratulated Sandu, saying: “Only true security and a peaceful, united Europe can guarantee each person and every family the confidence to face tomorrow with hope and certainty.”
Sandu owed her victory to Moldovans living abroad, many of them in EU countries. She lost in the territory of Moldova itself, election results showed.
Moldova is deeply polarized. A large diaspora and the capital mostly favor joining the EU, while rural areas and the pro-Russian separatist regions of Transnistria and Gagauzia are against.
In a conciliatory speech mostly in Romanian, the country’s official language, but also parts in Russian, Sandu vowed to be a “president for all.”
“No matter your voting choice, we all want to live in peace, in harmony, and to have a better life. I assure you that this is my primary goal for the coming years,” she said.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
RSS