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Romania is underscoring that it is essential that the second round of the presidential election in Moldova take place in full transparency circumstances and in accordance with European and international standards, as well as with democratic principles, reads a message from Romania's Foreign Ministry (MAE) after the first round of voting in Moldova.
According to MAE, Romania will continue to monitor all on-site assessments of national and international election observers and will not hesitate to point out any shortcomings in the election process.
The same message emphasises the importance of voting standards and principles being observed.
"Romania is convinced that the will of the citizens, freely expressed by vote, is the only one that ensures the legitimacy of such a political process in a democratic country, and it wants to warn that any slippage from these standards and principles can have a detrimental impact on the legitimacy of elections."
At the same time, MAE says Romania "strongly supports the European path of the Republic of Moldova, the only one able to offer to its citizens the prosperity it deserves."
The candidate of the Action and Solidarity Party (PAS), Maia Sandu, on Sunday won the first round of the presidential election in Moldova, according to preliminary data published by the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) after counting votes from 99.95% of polling stations in the country.
Sandu won by 36.15% of the vote, ahead of incumbent Socialist Igor Dodon, who garnered 32.62% of the vote. In the next places were Renato Usatii of Our Party - 16.90%; Violeta Ivanov of Sor - 6.49%; Nastase of the Dignity and Truth Platform - 3.26%; Octavian Ticu of the National Unity Party - 2.01%; Tudor Deliu of the Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova - 1.37%, and Dorin Chirtoaca of the Unirea Electoral Bloc - 1.20%.
CEC also centralised 99.28% of the ballots cast at 139 polling stations abroad. The PAS candidate prevailed overseas, by 70.10% while Dodon came in just third - 3.65% of the votes. Second finished Usatii - 17.27%.
As no candidate received 50% + 1 of the votes, Sandu and Dodon will face off in the second round, which will be held on November 15.
