For Maia Sandu to win the runoff presidential election, massive mobilization of the diaspora and an efficient campaign of the PAS candidate inside the country are needed. Political commentator Ion Tăbîrță said it is unlikely that Renato Usatyi (who obtained the third best result in the first round of voting – 13.79%, editor’s note) will offer his support to Maia Sandu. For his part, expert of Watchdog.MD community Valeriu Pașa said that the battle in the runoff election will be for the votes of Renato Usatyi, IPN reports.
Valeriu Pașa described Renato Usatyi's electorate as "specific" and said that it is hard to predict where the 13.79% of the vote that Usatyi obtained in the first round will go. "The big battle is for the voters of Renato Usatyi. The stake for this electorate is Stoianoglo as, naturally, whoever is in power for a mandate finds it harder to attract electors from the opposition. But it remains to be seen because Renato Usatyi's electorate is specific. The second pool includes those who did not go to vote. There is room for an increase in the voter turnout among the diaspora. For example, in the second round of the 2020 election, 80,000 people voted in Italy. Now 60,000 voted. There is still a reserve. With reference to Russia, the reality is that our diaspora in Russia has decreased a lot, and the interest of those who are there is small. In Russia, not even the 10,000 ballots have been exhausted," the expert of Watchdog.MD stated in the program "In Depth" on ProTV Chisinau.
Commentator Ion Tăbîrță said that only the exemplary mobilization of the diaspora to the polls and a successful campaign by Maia Sandu until November 3 can bring the incumbent President a new mandate. "Renato Usatyi's electorate will most likely be divided. If we remember the year 2020, even if Renato Usatyi made an appeal for Maia Sandu to be voted, his electorate was divided. I don't think Renato Usatyi will come up with such a message again. If more voters come in the runoff, the reserve is for Maia Sandu. In 2020, Maia Sandu won over 900,000 votes. Now, with extraordinary mobilization, she would need 150,000 more votes. But this means mobilization on the outside and a good campaign inside," said the political commentator.
In the first round of the presidential election of October 20, the candidate of the Party of Action and Solidarity Maia Sandu gained 42.49% of the vote. The candidate supported by the Party of Socialists Alexandr Stoianoglo was in second place with 25.95% of the poll.
