With over 32% of the votes counted by 10:10pm, the results show the first two places were taken by the Socialists’ candidate Igor Dodon and the joint candidate of the center-right opposition Maia Sandu, IPN reports.
Mihai Ghimpu (PL) polled 2.34% of the vote, Iurie Leanca (PPEM) – 3.62%, Dumitru Chubashenko (PPPN) – 5.76%, Maia Sandu (PAS/joint candidate) – 30.74%, Igor Dodon (PSRM) – 55.30%, Silvia Radu (independent) – 0.38%, Maia Laguta (independent) – 0.84%, Ana Gutu (The Right) – 0.18%, while Valeriu Giletski (independent) – 1.12%.
Central Election Commission president Alina Russu, in the press beefing given at 10pm, said all the polling places in Moldova were closed at 9pm. 17 polling places established abroad are still open. In London, where over 2,000 people voted and there are yet persons willing to vote, the electoral office is to decide whether to extend the program of the polling place by two hours, as the law provides.
More than 1.4 million Moldovans voted in the presidential elections. The voter turnout was thus nearly 49%. The CEC declared the elections valid given that more than one third of the voters cast their ballots. The voting took place without major incidents and CEC received no challenges concerning violation of the electoral legislation by election runners or members of inferior electoral bodies.
