Moldovans choose president in decisive runoff against backdrop of voter fraud concerns

Voters are choosing between pro-European incumbent Maia Sandu and challenger Alexandr Stoianoglo, who favours closer ties with Russia.

Transcript

00:00Polls have opened in Moldova with voters choosing who will head the country in the second round

00:07presidential election. During the first round of voting on the 20th of October, incumbent

00:12Maya Sandu led with 42 percent of the vote, but failed to win an outright majority, while

00:18Russia-friendly Alexander Stoyanoglou took 26 percent. The former Soviet Republic aspires

00:24to join the European Union, but is caught in a constant geopolitical tug-of-war between

00:29Moscow and the West. In an October referendum, joining the EU passed by a razor-thin majority

00:35of 50.3 percent, bolstered in the final hours of counting by the overseas vote. However,

00:41that result was overshadowed by allegations of a Moscow-backed vote-buying scheme. Moldova

00:48is one of Europe's poorest countries, therefore watchdogs believe that some citizens could

00:52be influenced by electoral corruption for small sums of money.

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