CHISINAU, Moldova — Pro-Moscow candidate Igor Dodon has seized nearly a 15-point lead in Moldova’s presidential election, with 75 percent of the vote counted.
Dodon had 57.25 percent of the vote in an election where he promised to restore ties with Moscow. His rival Maia Sandu, an ex-World Bank official who ran on an anti-corruption ticket, was polling 42.75 percent.
Dodon has tapped into popular anger about corruption under the pro-European government that came to power in 2009, particularly over about $1 billion that went missing from Moldovan banks before 2014 parliamentary elections.
