Moldovans, by a razor thin majority, voted to secure the country’s path towards European Union membership. This was revealed in Monday’s electoral data, after the prowestern president accused foreign interference, and “criminal” groups, of trying undermine the vote.

It appeared that the “No” vote was ahead, until the final few thousand votes from the diaspora were counted. The authorities of Moldova have accused Russia for trying to destabilize their country.

According to the Central Electoral Commission, 99.41% votes were counted for the EU referendum that took place on Sunday. The “Yes” vote was 50.39%, and the “No’ vote was 49.61%.

Losing would have been a disaster for the pro Western government that strongly supported the pro EU campaign.

On Monday, the President Maia Sandu reiterated her claims of unprecedented voter fraud, foreign interference, and its impact on the voting. She called it a ‘vile attack’ against Moldovan sovereignty.

She said at a press conference that the justice system had failed to do enough in order to prevent vote-rigging. “Here too, we need to draw a boundary, fix what went wrong and learn from the experience. We heard you. We know that we need to do more in order to combat corruption.

Authorities in Moldova claim that Moscow is waging a hybrid war to destabilize their country and sabotage its EU aspirations. These allegations include funding pro Moscow opposition groups, spreading misinformation, interfering in local elections, and supporting a large vote-buying scheme.

Russia has denied repeatedly that it interferes in Moldova.

Moldova, along with Ukraine, applied for EU membership after the Russian invasion of Ukraine’s neighboring country on February 24, 2022. They were granted candidate status the same summer. Brussels agreed to begin membership negotiations in June.

The European Commission said in Brussels that its services noted “unprecedented intimidation and interference by Russia and its proxy, aiming at destabilizing the democratic processes” of Moldova. It also reiterated its support for Moldova’s EU accession.

Peter Stano, spokesperson for the Russian Embassy, told reporters that the allegations of vote buying, voter bussing and disinformation were only the latest forms of Russian interference. He also said that attempts to undermine Moldova’s support for the EU and its opposition to Russia have been ongoing for months.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told Moldova’s people: “You’ve done it again! Moldova has shown that, in the face of Russia’s hybrid tactics and its desire for a European future, it is independent, strong, and wants to be European!

Sandu, who was running in the same presidential race as the one that took place at the time, won the first round of voting with 42 percent of the votes out of 11 candidates. This is short of a majority. In a runoff, she will face Alexandr Stoianoglo – a former prosecutor general with a pro-Russian stance who performed better than polls, receiving around 26%.

According to the Central Electoral Commission, by the time the polling stations closed on Sunday night at 9 p.m., over 1.5 million voters — or 51% of all eligible voters — had already cast their ballots. Moldova is home to about 2.5 million people.

Cristian Cantir is a Moldovan associate Professor of International Relations at Oakland University. He told The Associated Press earlier polls may have “overestimated” the pro-EU sentiment in Moldova, and that the referendum wouldn’t have passed without votes from outside Moldova.

He said: “It will be particularly problematic, because… it is going to feed narratives that the Kremlin or pro-Russians forces are pushing.”

The White House called Monday’s referendum “a historic step forward in Moldova’s European integration”, but warned that Russia will try to interfere with the run-off election for the presidency next month.

John Kirby, the U.S. National Security spokesman, said that Moscow had spent millions of dollars on these efforts in recent months. “Now, Russia did not succeed. “The results show that democracy is strong and the desire and will of the Moldovans to move towards European integration is strong.”

Early October, Moldovan authorities revealed that they had discovered a massive vote buying scheme orchestrated Ilan Shor. An exiled pro Russian oligarch, who lives in Russia today, paid out 15 million euros to 130,000 people for the purpose of undermining two ballots.

Shor was found guilty in absentia of fraud and money-laundering last year and sentenced 15 years to prison for $1 billion in missing funds from Moldovan banks. He denied these allegations and said that the payments were legal, citing his right to freedom expression. Shor’s populist Shor Party, which is friendly to Russia, was declared unconstitutional and banned last year.

The Moldovan authorities foiled a second plot on Thursday in which over 100 young Moldovans were trained by private military groups in Moscow to cause civil unrest in the run-up to the two elections. Police said that some of the participants also received more advanced training at “guerrilla camps” located in Serbia and Bosnia. Four people were held for 30 days.

Since 2021, one year after Sandu was elected president, a pro-Western coalition has ruled Moldova. Next year, a parliamentary election is scheduled.