Moldova has narrowly backed a move for closer ties to the EU in a referendum, electoral authorities say.
The yes campaign won the vote with a margin of less than a per cent – just a few thousand votes.
The referendum asked voters to choose whether to enshrine a path towards European Union membership in the country’s constitution.
It came after Moldova’s pro-EU president Maia Sandu accused “criminal groups” of undermining the referendum.
The Kremlin also criticised the vote, saying the “opposition was deprived of the opportunity of engaging in the electoral process”.
They said the “election was not free”, and the “sudden increase in votes” for the pro-EU side is “difficult to explain”.
In the country’s presidential election, incumbent Ms Sandu, who is looking to secure a second term, had a lead over Alexandr Stoianoglo, but short of an overall majority.
That result would pave the way for a potentially tight second round run-off between Ms Sandu and Mr Stoianoglo, a former prosecutor-general backed by the pro-Russian Party of Socialists.
After the polls closed, Ms Sandu said the country faced an “unprecedented” assault on its presidential election and EU referendum and that criminal groups backed by foreign forces had tried to buy up to 300,000 votes to undermine the polls.
“We are waiting for the final results, and we will respond with firm decisions,” she said in a written statement.
Moldova, one of the poorest countries in Europe, applied to join the EU after Russia invaded Ukraine.
Around 2.7 million people were eligible to participate in both a presidential election and a referendum on joining the EU, according to figures from the president’s office.
But Moscow is not keen to give up influence in the former Soviet state, which is strategically positioned next to Ukraine and the Black Sea, and the elections came amid claims of Russian interference.
Moldovan police seized money and documents they allege were linked to Russian-backed groups trying to meddle in the vote, but the Kremlin denies any involvement.
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