Moldovan President Maia Sandu’s pro-European party secured a majority in parliament after weekend elections that were marred by cyberattacks and allegations of Russian attempts to destabilize the vote.

The ruling Action and Solidarity Party (PAS) won about 50% of the vote, well ahead of the pro-Russian Patriotic Electoral Bloc, which received less than 25%, according to preliminary results from Moldova's central electoral commission.

The outcome strengthens Sandu’s push to join the European Union less than a year after she secured reelection in November 2024, overcoming earlier attempts by Russia-linked groups to sway that vote.

Cyberattacks and interference claims

Sandu’s national adviser, Stanislav Secrieru, said Moldovans voted “under massive pressure from Russia and its proxies.” On Sunday, hoax bomb threats targeted polling stations across Moldova and diaspora voting centers in Belgium, Italy, Romania, Spain and the United States. The aim was to intimidate, spread panic and suppress the diaspora vote, Secrieru said.

According to Prime Minister Dorin Recean, Moldova’s electoral infrastructure was hit by multiple cyberattacks before and during voting, targeting the Central Electoral Commission website, government cloud systems, and polling stations abroad. He said the attacks, which included distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) incidents, were blocked in real time and did not disrupt voting.

The state agency for special telecommunications and cybersecurity (STISC) temporarily suspended access to a major web-hosting provider due to a massive attack, knocking about 4,000 websites offline during the election. Moldova's independent news agency IPN, as well as Point.md, one of the country’s most-read news websites, also suffered sustained DDoS attacks.

Authorities previously blamed Moscow for disinformation and covert influence operations aimed at undermining confidence in the election. 

Europe cheers, Kremlin objects

Western leaders congratulated Sandu. “Despite Russia’s massive efforts to spread disinformation and buy votes, no force can stop a people committed to freedom,” said European Commission Vice-President Kaja Kallas. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk called the result “a good lesson for us all,” while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia had failed to destabilise Moldova.

The Kremlin hasn’t formally commented, though spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused Moldova of restricting voting rights by opening only two polling stations in Russia. “Hundreds of thousands of Moldovans were deprived of the opportunity to vote,” he said.

Igor Dodon, leader of the Patriotic Bloc, rejected the results, alleging electoral violations and calling for a peaceful protest outside parliament on Monday.

Moldova, a nation of 2.4 million people sandwiched between Ukraine and Romania, is a former Soviet republic with deep ties to Russia but has increasingly turned toward the European Union in recent years. Moscow has sought to maintain influence through allies such as fugitive oligarch Ilan Shor, sanctioned by the U.S. and EU, and through its military presence in the breakaway region of Transnistria.

Sandu has previously warned that Moscow is spending “hundreds of millions of euros” to undermine Moldova’s pro-European course.