CHISINAU. Nov 2 (Interfax) - Opposition candidate Maia Sandu has surpassed incumbent President Igor Dodon in the first round of the Moldovan presidential election, according to the final voting results published on the website of the Moldovan Central Elections Commission (CEC) on Monday.
According to the website, Sandu garnered 36.16% of the vote with 487,635 votes, and Dodon got 32.61% with 439,866 votes in the first round of the election. They will be competing against one another in a runoff election on November 15.
CEC Chairman Dorin Cimil told journalists that while the results have been officially published, they will remain preliminary until the CEC receives original protocols from all polling stations, including those abroad.
Our Party candidate Renato Usatii ranked third with 16.9% of the vote (227,938 votes). He is followed by Shor party candidate Violeta Ivanova (6.49% or 87,542 votes), DA Platform Party candidate Andrei Nastase (3.26% or 43,925 votes), National Unity Party candidate Octavian ?icu (2.01% or 27,170 votes), Liberal Democratic Party Tudor Deliu (1.37% or 18,486 votes), and UNIREA Electoral Bloc candidate Dorin Chirtoaca (1.2% or 16,245 votes).
Voter turnout was 1,348,707, or 43% of all eligible voters.
According to Cimil, the standing of the main candidates was changed by the votes cast outside Moldova.
"A total of 149,840 persons [about 12% of all voters who went to the polls] cast their ballots at 139 polling stations abroad. Most of them voted in Italy (46,400), the United Kingdom (16,800), France (15,600), Germany (12,900), Romania (12,900), Ireland (7,000), the United States (5,700), Russia (5,600), and Spain (4,300) at certain polling stations," Cimil said.
All polling stations had enough ballots, Cimil said. Most voters cast their ballots at two polling stations in London, 4,262 and 3,471, respectively. Each polling station was provided with 5,000 ballots.
According to the preliminary results observed at polling stations outside Moldova, Sandu garnered 70.1% of the vote (104,464 votes), Usatii got 17.27% (25,731), and Dodon got 3.65% (5,438).
Some 14,185 voters voted at 42 polling stations in Transdniestria. Of them, 74.2% voted for Dodon, 13.35% for Sandu, and 7.2% for Usatii.
Sandu surpassed Dodon in four out of five Chisinau sectors, which have the largest number of voters. She garnered 45.2% of the vote in the Moldovan capital, while Dodon received 34.17%, and Usatii got 9.55%.
According to Cimil, the CEC has not calculated the percentage of voters. The calculations done on Sunday were based on the overall number of voters, 2,807,182, excluding Moldovan citizens abroad and residents of Transdniestria. Of those numbers, about 43% of voters came to polls. However, there are also almost 150,000 people who voted abroad, in addition to nearly 15,000 voters in Transdniestria. There are 3,287,140 voters on the state register of voters, including those living abroad and in Transdniestria. Together with the votes cast outside Moldova and in Transdniestria, voter turnout was 1,348,707.