Moldovans living abroad voted in record numbers in a presidential runoff that secured victory for pro-Western President Maia Sandu, in a pivotal race that pitted her against a Russia-friendly opponent amid ongoing claims of Russian interference,

Moldovans living abroad voted in record numbers in a presidential runoff that secured victory for pro-Western President Maia Sandu.

Almost 10,000 representatives of the Moldovan diaspora in Russia had voted at the two polling stations in Moscow (5,000 at each) that were opened for them to be able to vote in the presidential election in Moldova.

The victory for the 52-year-old ex-World Bank adviser is an endorsement of the resolutely pro-Western course she has tacked.

Moldovan President Maia Sandu pulled out a decisive election victory in the former Soviet republic on Sunday, defying Russian efforts to disrupt the ballot and revive her push to steer the country into the European Union by the end of the decade.

President Biden lauds Moldovan incumbent Maia Sandu's reelection, saying "Russia sought to undermine" the country's democratic institutions for months.

Moldova's president, Maia Sandu, won a second term Sunday. Sandu, a 52-year-old former World Bank adviser who is pushing her ex-Soviet satellite country to join the European Union, beat former prosecutor Alexandr Stoianoglo 55% to 45% in a second round of voting.

Moldova's pro-EU incumbent Maia Sandu on Sunday won a tense presidential runoff, beating her rival backed by a pro-Russian party in what she described as a "lesson in democracy".