In the referendum in Moldova, supporters of European integration win by a small margin. The fate of the referendum will be decided by those who voted abroad.

In the referendum on the issue of Moldova's European integration, after processing 98.38% of the ballots, its supporters win by a small margin: 50.08% of voters voted for European integration, 49.92% voted against. The data is published on the website of the Central Election Commission of the country. The result is still unpredictable, the situation has changed several times during the vote count.

It remains to process data from 35 polling stations abroad.

In the presidential elections in Moldova, which were held on October 20 along with the referendum, according to preliminary data, the incumbent President Maia Sandu received the largest number of votes (38.17%), followed by the candidate from the Party of Socialists (PSRM), former Prosecutor General Alexandr Stoianoglo (28.61%). They advance to the second round.

A certain "criminal group" tried to bribe voters, Sandu said during a short meeting with the press after the closure of polling stations. "They fought with the dirtiest methods to bring our citizens and the country into a zone of uncertainty and instability. We have evidence and information that the goal of the criminal group was to buy 300 thousand votes, the scale of this falsification is unprecedented. The goal was to undermine democratic elections, the goal was to instill fear and panic."

Last month Ilan Shor, a pro-Russian Moldovan businessman and convicted fraudster/politician who now lives in Russia, said he would pay money to convince “as many people as possible” to vote No or to abstain in the EU referendum. In recent weeks Moldovan authorities uncovered a giant scheme of payments coming from Moscow – and paid to people to vote against Sandu and the EU referendum.

The BBC stumbled upon evidence of vote-buying at a polling station for residents of the breakaway Moldovan region of Transnistria. A BBC producer heard a woman who had just dropped her ballot in the transparent box ask an election monitor where she would get paid.

When asked directly whether she had been offered cash to vote, she admitted it without qualms. She was angry that a man who had sent her to the polling station was no longer answering her calls. “He tricked me!” she said.

Also in Gagauzia, a Moldavian region where Putin is supported, most people think with horror about joining the EU, and are waiting for the arrival of a new "Orthodox tsar"

Funnily enough the master of shamlections from the Kremlin complained that the Moldovan voting results raise many questions and were "not free".

@freerussia_report