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Chisinau residents calm as presidential election results emerge

Dodon has already congratulated his rival on preliminary victory and urged his supporters not to take to the streets for protests

CHISINAU, November 16. /TASS/. Leader of the pro-European Party of Action and Solidarity Maia Sandu’s convincing presidential election victory over incumbent President Igor Dodon has not resulted in any unrest. No demonstrations, protests or celebrations were seen in the streets of Chisinau on Monday, the next day after the run-off.

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Putin congratulates Maia Sandu on winning Moldovan presidential election

Dodon has already congratulated his rival on preliminary victory and urged his supporters not to take to the streets for protests. Amid these developments, nothing suggested that such protests could erupt in the streets of Chisinau.

Some liveliness was registered near Sandu’s campaign headquarters mostly at night when the Central Election Commission’s data showed that her victory was largely secured. Around twenty people with flowers and state flags gathered to celebrate their candidate’s victory. However, working atmosphere dominates her headquarters now.

During her afternoon briefing, Sandu vowed to protect rights of ethnic minorities as the Moldovan president, particularly guaranteeing the freedom to speak their native language. She switched to Russian for this part of her speech. Moreover, the presumptive president-elect shared plans to advance a balanced foreign policy and engage in pragmatic dialogue with all countries, including Russia and the United States.

In turn, Dodon told reporters that his campaign had recorded an unprecedented number of violations and pledged to challenge Sandu’s victory in court. Meanwhile, Russia-led Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) observers, according to mission head Viktor Guminsky, believe that the violations were not systemic and could not affect the overall result. However, he clarified that he meant the cases and the voting stations that were directly observed by the monitors in conditions of specific limitations.

Moldova elections

Moldova held the run-off of the presidential elections on November 15. According to preliminary results of the Central Election Commission, Sandu won the presidency with 57.7% of the votes, while Dodon only got 42.2%. Sandu’s lead was secured with ballots of 200,000 Moldovan migrants in Western countries.

The current legislation outlines that the Central Election Commission and the Constitutional Court must approve the election results. Following this step, the president should be inaugurated within 45 days since the election date but no earlier than the current leader’s term expires. Dodon’s term in the office ends on December 23.

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