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CHISINAU — Incumbent Ion Ceban has been reelected as mayor of Moldova’s capital, Chisinau, preliminary results showed on November 6, in a potential setback for pro-Western President Maia Sandu’s ruling Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) as the government presses ahead with reforms to advance the country’s candidacy to join the European Union and leave Moscow’s orbit.

Ceban, a former member of the Moscow-friendly Socialist Party of ex-President Igor Dodon, won 50.62 percent of the vote, while his PAS opponent, Lilian Carp, garnered 28.23 percent, election authorities announced after all votes from the capital’s 305 polling stations were counted.

Ceban earlier this year registered a new party, the National Alternative Movement (MAN), which he said is pursuing a Western-style social-democratic ideology.

Ceban’s MAN will also control the capital’s city council, results showed.

More than 1.14 million people — or about 41 percent of registered voters — cast ballots in Moldova’s municipal elections, surpassing the required 25 percent in most areas, in a vote marked by accusations of Russian meddling in the former Soviet republic.

More than 41 percent of voters had cast ballots in the capital, Chisinau, the Central Election Commission said.

Moldova is a landlocked country of 3.4 million sandwiched between EU and NATO member Romania and Ukraine and is one of Europe’s poorest countries. It was awarded EU candidate status together with Ukraine in June last year.

Dozens of parties, including the pro-Russian Revival party linked to fugitive businessman Ilan Shor, who has been accused by Chisinau and the West of attempting to destabilize Moldova, took part in the race to elect some 12,000 officials.

The PAS said it came first in 19 out of Moldova’s 32 counties in the first round and gained a total of 240 mayorships, but in many of them it will have to engage in negotiations with other parties for the control of local councils.

In Moldova’s second-largest city, Balti, a runoff vote is to be held on November 19 between first-placed Aleksandr Petkov, and independent Arina Corsicova, who are separated by 1 percentage point after the November 5 vote.

Petkov is a member of Our Party, a political grouping established by controversial businessman Renato Usatii, who is being investigated for corruption. He denies the charges, which he says are politically motivated.

Sandu on November 1 accused Moscow of funneling money to pro-Russian parties, including the Revival party, to “buy” voters. Sandu claimed that Russia has channeled nearly $5 million in two months in financing for — what she called — “criminal groups.”

Just two days before the elections, Moldova’s Commission for Exceptional Situations (CSE) barred the pro-Russian Chance party’s candidates from taking part in the vote for allegedly using illegal money from Russia in the campaign.

The decision was made “for reasons of state security” and a “hybrid war” being waged by Russia against Moldova, Prime Minister Dorin Recean told reporters on November 3.

Moldova also suspended the broadcast license of several Russian television stations and blocked access to the websites of major Russian news media last month, claiming that Moscow is using them to try to influence the elections. They include the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda and website Lenta.ru, as well TASS and Interfax.

Sandu said authorities made the decision to protect the “state and democracy from the Russian Federation’s attempts to interfere in the electoral process.”

According to Recean, the decision by CSE was proposed by the county’s intelligence services.

Alexandru Musteata, director of the Intelligence and Security Service, said that in recent months Russia has been trying to influence the elections through illegal party financing, vote buying, candidate corruption, and a “well-placed” disinformation campaign through certain TV stations, websites, and social networks.

Moldova has accused Moscow of trying to overthrow its pro-Western government since Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year.

With reporting by Reuters