Moldova narrowly votes 'yes' to EU membership – DW – 10/21/2024
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Early preliminary results had indicted a majority "no," but a surge of ballots from abroad provided last-minute support for EU membership. The referendum came amid allegations of Russia-backed voter fraud.

Earlier preliminary results had indicted a majority “no,” but a surge of ballots from abroad provided last-minute support for EU membership. The referendum comes amid allegations of Russia-backed voter fraud

With more than 99% of the votes counted, the “yes” vote for EU membership in Moldova’s referendum was slightly ahead at 50.28% — only 8,000 votes more than the anti-EU camp.

Earlier, Moldovans appeared to have rejected plans for the former Soviet republic to add its goal of joining the EU to the constitution, according to preliminary results from 70% of ballots in the country’s referendum from Sunday evening.

However, ballots from Moldovans living abroad were counted towards the end, giving the “yes” camp a last-minute push.

A largely agricultural country of around 2.5 million people, Moldova has sought to cut ties with Moscow and move closer to the EU since Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine in 2022.

The former Soviet republic began EU membership talks in June.

    • WhiteOakBayou@lemmy.world
      131·
      1 month ago

      It’s such a small country I doubt they lost enough to matter. They’ll just buy a little less armor for their personnel carriers and call it a wash

  • xmunk@sh.itjust.works
    24·
    1 month ago

    This is why (are you watching America!) you should never judge results early or stop counting ballots.

    • Burn_The_Right@lemmy.world
      9·
      1 month ago

      U.S. elections work differently. A Republican does not need to win the popular vote to win an election here. Our electoral college system heavily favors Republicans as it gives unfair weight to sparsely populated rural states.

      If a Democrat wins the popular vote by that narrow of a margin, they have lost the election.

      • PetteriPano@lemmy.world
        3·
        1 month ago

        They sure do.

        The point was that Orange Man and his followers were calling to stop the count when early votes and mail-in ballots were counted towards the end and made him lose swing states. He said something along the lines of “we were winning, and then they found these votes, and suddenly we were losing”.

  • andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    6·
    1 month ago

    What’s with Transistria? That’s fucked up state is like Donbas in Ukraine, a tab that was left to contest their independence from the russiasphere not letting them join any union. I think, as the 90s passed a long time ago, the only country that would be harmed by separation is that shithole itself, not Moldova, and the security of their border (and, probably, the EU border then) would depend on cutting them off completely.