Pro-Russia Candidate Wins Moldova Presidency

The almost final results of the presidential election in Moldova show a clear victory for the leader of Socialist Party, Igor Dodon, with around 52.3 per cent of the vote. His pro-EU rival, Maia Sandu, won 47.7 per cent.

Dodon, 41, a former trade minister under a former communist-led government, has called for closer ties with Russia but has promised to be also a president for all Moldovans.

The people had voted "for friendship with Russia, for neutrality, for our Orthodoxy, for the unity of the country in settling the conflict in Transdniester," Dodon said early on Monday, referring to the breakway region controlled by the Kremlin.

"The first step has been made," he added.

Dodon, in an earlier campaign speech, said Moldova had lost access to a massive economic market due to its poor relations with Moscow.

Russia placed a trade embargo on Moldovan wine and fruit imports soon after Chisinau in 2014 signed an association agreement with the European Union.

Moreover, Dodon is hoping better relations with Russia will help Moldova to solve the long-lasting dispute with the4 self-proclaimed Republic of Transdniester.

The region is inhabited mainly by Russian-speaking population, which broke away from Moldova in 1991 following a short war that killed several hundred people.

"I continue to believe that country's federalisation by granting a special status to Transdniester is the only solution," Dodon said on Monday.

Russia has thousands of troops stationed as peacekeepers in the breakaway region.

Analysts say Dodon's victory is mainly due to popular dissatisfaction with successive pro-EU governments in recent years.

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