Sawt Falasteen - Moldova's pro-EU party hails poll win despite 'dirty' Russian tactics

The small European Union candidate nation, which borders Ukraine and has a pro-Russia breakaway region, has long been divided over whether to move closer with Brussels or maintain Soviet-era relations with Moscow.

Sunday's elections were seen as crucial for the ex-Soviet republic to maintain its push towards EU integration, launched after Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

"Russia threw everything dirty it had into the fight... It's not only PAS that won the elections, the people won," Igor Grosu, leader of the Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS), told a press conference.

But analysts warned that the ruling party's victory was "fragile" and that Russia could yet stir trouble.

With over 99.91 percent of ballots counted, the party of President Maia Sandu had garnered 50.16 percent of the vote to elect members of the 101-seat parliament.

That compared to 24.19 percent for the pro-Russian Patriotic Bloc, according to results published on the election commission's website.

The support for PAS was slightly lower than the 52.8 percent that it won in 2021.

- 'Right path' -

"It's very nice to wake up in a Moldova which chose the right path: peace, development and stability," Nadir Grinco, 25, who works in organisational communication, told AFP in Chisinau.

"I'm feeling more confident... I won't have to move abroad like I planned in case of less satisfying results," she added.

European leaders -- including neighbouring Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky -- hailed the result as a victory for the continent.

"Russia failed to destabilise Moldova even after spending huge, huge resources to undermine it and to corrupt whoever they could," the wartime leader said.

European Council head Antonio Costa said Moldova had chosen a "European future", Poland's prime minister hailed Moldova for foiling Russian ambitions while France congratulated Moldovans on their "sovereign" choice.

"Statistically speaking PAS has guaranteed a fragile majority," analyst Andrei Curararu of the Chisinau-based think tank WatchDog.md told AFP on Sunday night.

But he warned that "danger" had not passed, "as a functional government is difficult to form".

"The Kremlin has bankrolled too big of an operation to stand down and could resort to protests, bribing PAS MPs and other tactics to disrupt forming a stable pro-European government," he added.

The ballot was overshadowed by fears of vote buying and unrest, as well as "an unprecedented campaign of disinformation" from Russia, according to the EU.

Moscow has denied the allegations.

- Protest call -

Igor Dodon, a former president and one of the leaders of the Patriotic Bloc, has called on people to "peacefully protest" on Monday, accusing PAS of stealing the vote.

"If during the night there are falsifications ... we will ask for elections to be repeated," he said late Sunday.

Liuba Peribicovski, a 75-year-old pensioner, said the result was "negative" for her, expressing disappointment with the EU.

"Prove this meddling!" she said.

The government has accused the Kremlin of spending hundreds of millions in "dirty money" to interfere in the campaign.

In the lead-up to the vote, prosecutors carried out hundreds of searches related to what the government said was "electoral corruption" and "destabilisation attempts", with dozens arrested.

Turnout stood at around 52 percent, similar to that of the last parliamentary elections in 2021.

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W.AbuLaban--SF-PST