Moldova votes in tense presidential runoff amid fears of foreign interference

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00:00The polling station behind me is where socialist candidate Alexander Stoyanoglou voted this morning.

00:05He's facing current president Maya Sandu in what is likely to be a tight race for the second round

00:10of presidential elections, just like the referendum on Moldova's EU accession two weeks ago.

00:15Maya Sandu did reach a comfortable majority of 42% in the first round, followed by Alexander

00:21Stoyanoglou with 26% of votes, but a large part of the nine candidates who didn't make it to the

00:27second round are very opposed to the current government and called to vote against Maya Sandu.

00:33Alexander Stoyanoglou is supported by pro-Russian parties and the Kremlin,

00:37accused to have orchestrated a large-scale electoral corruption scheme via Moldovan oligarch

00:43Ilan Shor. Authorities say up to 300,000 votes were sold during the first round and the second

00:49round is not exempt from this interference. The former prosecutor says he has no ties to

00:55Ilan Shor or Moscow and describes himself as a neutral candidate in favour of good relations

01:00with Europe but also Russia. He's been targeting those citizens disappointed by Maya Sandu's term

01:06who see her responsible for the country's bad economic situation or for not doing enough to

01:10fight corruption. The president is however widely backed by pro-European Moldovans including a large

01:17part of the youth and also enjoys a wide support within the diaspora. She called citizens to

01:23support her in a bid to save the country from foreign interference.

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