Leading Candidate in Moldova Presidential Vote Wants Snap Parliamentary Election

The leading candidate in the Moldovan presidential vote, Igor Dodon, called on Monday for early parliamentary elections in the country.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Earlier in the day, Moldova's Central Election Commission placed the Socialist Party front-runner's lead at 52.29 percent with 99.9 percent of the votes counted. Dodon's main rival, opposition candidate from Action and Solidarity Party Maia Sandu, received 47.71 percent of votes.

“We believe that the signing of the association agreement [with the European Union] two years ago has not led to the improvement of living standards in the Republic of Moldova, we openly advocate for a strategic partnership with Russia. But in order to take these steps … it is necessary to seek early parliamentary elections,” Dodon told Rossiya-24 TV channel.

The EU-Moldova Association Agreement, including the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA), was signed in June 2014 and ratified in Chisinau the following month. In September, the Socialist leader said he wanted Moldova, a small Eastern European state that emerged after the Soviet collapse in 1991, to enter the Russia-led Eurasian economic community and called its pact with Brussels "a big mistake."