Romanian President Klaus Iohannis congratulated his Moldovan peer Maia Sandu, whose pro-EU party (PAS) won a landslide victory in the early elections on July 11, getting 52.8% of the votes compared to 27.2% received by the rival alliance of Communists and Socialists.

Felicitări cetățenilor R. Moldova pentru spiritul civic și opțiunea clară pentru reforme, stat de drept și integrare europeană! Felicitări @sandumaiamd pentru curaj, perseverență și viziune! România va fi alături de R. Moldova în susținerea reformelor și parcursului european!

— Klaus Iohannis (@KlausIohannis) July 12, 2021

Notably, the AUR radical unionist party, Romania’s third-biggest political force originating in Moldova, received well below the 5% electoral threshold and failed to have any seat in parliament.

Last fall, Sandu defeated her predecessor Igor Dodon despite all odds. In just six months, she managed to call early elections despite the ad-hoc coalition formed in Parliament by Dodon’s Socialists with the fugitive businessman Ilan Shor (main suspect in the USD 1 bln bank frauds) and fugitive oligarch Vlad Plahotniuc.

Sandu managed to put an end to two years of political turmoil that started in the summer of 2019 amid the undecided outcome of the general elections that made necessary the intervention of the country’s foreign development partners. It is the biggest step made by Moldova towards European integration since the signing of the Association Agreement in 2014.

(Photo: George Calin/ Inquam Photos)

andrei@romania-insider.com