Socialist Head Igor Dodon Wins Moldova's Presidential Runoff

Socialist Party leader Igor Dodon has won the second round of Moldova's presidential election, partial official results indicate.

Dodon leads woth 52.57%, amid a higher voter turnout of 1.6 million, up from the 1.4 m that voted in the first round last Sunday, daily Kommersant reports, citing preliminary data.

Rival Maia Sandu, a newcomer to Moldovan politics who only entered the fight for the country's voters this year, has garnered 47.43% of the vote.

She has accused the election authorities of hindering the vote abroad, with some polling stations outside the country running out of ballots.

Dodon's party has been calling on Moldova to pursue closer ties with the Eurasian Union and has been critical of the country's EU integration and the Association Agreement with the EU, which it signed in 2014.

Moldova is a parliamentary republic, but this year's presidential election has been a milestone after the March 2016 Constitutional Court ruling which reversed a 1990s decision to elect the head of state in Parliament and introduced a direct vote.

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