OR Moldova is voting today to elect a president and to decide whether or not to continue its European path, in a crucial twin vote on the future of this former Soviet republic amid allegations of Russian meddling.

The president Maya Sanduwhich decisively steered its small country bordering war-torn Ukraine towards the European Union, is the favourite, but is expected to need a run-off on November 3 to prevail, according to forecasts. In pre-election polls, her percentage was around 36%.

So it is expected that today the attention will be mainly focused on the referendum that is organized in parallel with the presidential elections: will the voters approve the inclusion in the Constitution of the country of the goal of joining the European Union?

OR Moldova it already has one foot in the EU, as accession negotiations officially opened in June and opinion polls predict a 55% “yes” victory.

But it remains unclear what the turnout will be, which must reach at least 33% for the referendum to be valid, as pro-Russian parties have called for a boycott in the hope of canceling the vote.

Meanwhile, police in recent months have carried out 350 investigations and made hundreds of arrests of suspects accused of seeking to disrupt the election process on behalf of Moscow.

An unprecedented vote-buying scheme has been uncovered, in which 150,000 Moldovans were paid to vote against Sandu and against the EU, up to 300,000 with their relatives, according to investigators.

That’s about a quarter of the voters expected at polling stations in this country of 2.6 million people from 07:00 (local and Greek time) to 21:00 — the first results will be announced around 22:00. 00.

The first woman to take office in 2020 in this country, which sits between NATO and the Russian sphere of influence, Maya Sandu, a 52-year-old economist, has a reputation for incorruptibility and has emerged as a front-line European figure.

During the election campaign he toured the countryside meeting villagers to mobilize them and remind them that in the referendum “there is no second round”.

Against her there is no strong opponent, but a group of ten candidates, most of whom are more or less connected to Moscow and talk about “neutrality”. Some are expressed in Russian, in addition to the official language, which is Romanian.

Among them, Mr Alexander Stoyanogloua 57-year-old former prosecutor backed by pro-Russian socialists, polls the highest at 9%. He had been fired by his rival and is calling for “justice to be restored” against a power that is ready, according to the opposition, to trample on rights.

THE Renato Usatiiformer mayor of Balchi, Moldova’s second city, gathers 6.4% in the polls and has a card to play as well. With the Moldovan flag on his shoulders, this 45-year-old claims that he is “the only candidate who is not controlled by either the East or the West.”

According to the study center WatchDogRussia spent a hundred million dollars in the run-up to the vote. The police have charged the oligarch Ilan Shorwho has fled to Moscow after being convicted of fraud and theft, that he tried to pay a network of at least 130,000 voters to vote “No” and support a particular candidate.

Shor, who has been jailed in absentia and is subject to European sanctions, has publicly offered to pay Moldovans to vote “No” and support “our candidate”. He denies any wrongdoing and says the money is his.

“At a time when our country is at a crossroads, a gang of fraudsters is trying to trick people,” Prime Minister Dorin Recean warned and called on Moldovans to be “on guard.”

The Kremlin has “categorically” rejected accusations of meddling.