Ex-rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Egidijus Vareikis considers the pro-European forces have a real chance in the runoff elections. In an interview for Radio Free Europe, the Lithuanian politician of the center-right said the score between Maia Sandu and Igor Dodon will be close, but the pro-European camp seems to have more growth potential than Igor Dodon, IPN reports.

“Following the developments in Moldova during the last two weeks, I was sure that a runoff will be held. At midnight, I was surprised to see that Igor Dodon had about half of the vote. Now we know for sure that there will be runoff elections. I would say that my surprise was caused by the large support received by Maia Sandu,” stated the ex-PACE rapporteur.

Egidijus Vareikis noted that everyone knows how fragmented the democratic forces are and that’s why it seemed almost impossible to gather together votes from so many parties. “But now we see with surprise how much Maia Sandu could garner. The runoff elections will actually be very interesting. We cannot say that the situation is clearly in favor of Mister Dodon. The die isn’t cast yet,” he said.

According to the Lithuanian politician, the pro-European parties have two weeks to take Maia Sandu to victory. Surely, if this work had started earlier, it would have been better. But this fact does not count now. “The main idea is to see how united the pro-Europeans can be. Mister Dodon has nothing in addition. He has nothing behind,” said Egidijus Vareikis.

He considers there is a chance for the pro-European forces and the difference in the electoral score of Igor Dodon and Maia Sandu will not be big.