Moldova’s pro-EU party has decisively won a parliamentary election plagued by claims of Russian interference and widely seen as a definitive choice between staying in Europe’s orbit or moving closer to Moscow.
Cristina Florea, an assistant professor in the College of Arts and Sciences and historian of Central and Eastern Europe, says the Moldovan people still have a very clear memory of what life was like as a Soviet republic.
Florea says: “What’s striking about this election is the strategy followed by Moldova’s pro-Russian party: they tried to frighten voters into submission by warning that leaning too far toward the EU would trigger Moscow’s wrath and even drag Moldova into war. The fact that Moldovans still voted decisively for a pro-European course is remarkable. It shows a political maturity—and a clarity about what is at stake—that many countries further west often lack.
“There’s an irony here. The farther a country sits from Russia’s borders, the more hesitant it often is to stand firm. Those with the most direct experience of Russian aggression, it seems, are the least willing to compromise. Even compared with its EU-member neighbor Romania, Moldovans proved more resolute, accepting the risks of antagonizing Moscow rather than wavering on their independence.”
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