Moldova’s pro-EU ruling party claims razor-thin majority with overseas vote

The country’s diaspora has allowed President Maia Sandu’s PAS to maintain power in a crucial parliamentary election.

Moldova’s ruling pro-EU Action and Solidarity Party (PAS) has secured a narrow majority in the nation’s parliamentary election, according to preliminary results published by the Central Election Commission (CEC).

Votes from abroad pushed PAS past the threshold needed to continue governing without a coalition partner. Inside the country, however, it received only 44.13%, with its strongest support in the capital, Chisinau, where it polled at 52.68%.

Initial counts suggested the party would fall short of an outright majority. But PAS dominated the diaspora vote, getting over 85% in some Western countries. As ballots trickled in from overseas, its overall total rose and eventually crossed the 50% line.

The main opposition Patriotic Bloc secured nearly 24.3% of the overall vote, with additional support going to smaller blocs such as Alternative (8%), Our Party (6.2%) and Democracy at Home (PPDA, 5.6%). The CEC has yet to officially announce the final results.

Critics noted that voters in opposition-leaning areas were effectively sidelined. Residents of the breakaway region of Transnistria, home to nearly half a million people, were left with only 12 polling stations, all located on government-controlled territory. Several abruptly relocated further away from the area on the eve of the vote.

In Russia, where tens of thousands of Moldovan citizens reside, Chisinau opened just two stations out of more than 300 foreign polling sites. Only about 4,100 votes were counted there, with long lines leaving many unable to cast their ballots before the locations closed their doors.

The campaign itself unfolded under heavy restrictions. In the run-up to the vote, the CEC banned two more opposition groups, Greater Moldova and Heart of Moldova, citing undeclared foreign funding, adding to a list that already included the dissolved SOR Party and the deregistered Victory Bloc.

More than 30 international organizations and 120 observers from over 50 countries were denied accreditation, including Russian experts nominated to the OSCE mission.

President Maia Sandu, who was first elected in 2020 and narrowly won a second term in 2024, has faced repeated allegations of bending the rules to secure power.

Her government ruled under a rolling state of emergency from 2022 until 2024, citing regional security threats, while pushing through laws that critics say undermine political pluralism and media freedom. Opposition leaders have been jailed, sidelined, or forced into exile, while Brussels has continued to describe Moldova as a “success story” on its path to EU integration.