Chisinau: Moldova’s presidential election has preliminary results indicating that incumbent President Maia Sandu is leading after the first round of voting, with former prosecutor general Alexandr Stoianoglo trailing behind. Concurrently, a referendum to make EU accession a constitutional goal was rejected by voters.

According to Azeri-Press News Agency, the Central Electoral Committee (CEC) of Moldova announced that with votes counted from 16% of polling stations, President Maia Sandu has taken an early lead in the presidential race. Sandu, the current president, is followed by Alexandr Stoianoglo, a candidate representing the pro-Russian, center-left populist Democratic Party, who has secured about 30% of the votes so far.

The second round of the presidential election is scheduled for November 3, given that no candidate has achieved an outright majority in the first round.

In addition to the presidential vote, preliminary results from the Moldovan referendum suggest a significant public opinion against
amending the constitution to prioritize EU integration. With 23.4% of votes counted, approximately 58% of participants voted against the proposition, as per reports from Moldovan TV8 channel’s website.

The CEC also highlighted voter turnout, which reached 54.5% for the presidential election. While the exact turnout for the referendum is still under calculation, it has been confirmed that the turnout met the legal requirement of one-third of eligible voters needed to make the results binding.