Presidential elections were held in Moldova.
In the second round, the ex-Prime Minister of Moldova, leader of the Action and Solidarity party Maia Sandu won by a significant margin of almost 16%.
Sandu took up active political activity relatively recently - just five years ago, when she created a political movement named after herself, which later transformed into a party.
In 2016, after a series of street protests that demanded that the authorities return direct presidential elections, Maia Sandu from her own party ran for president.
Then she lost in the second round to the socialist Igor Dodon with a minimum gap of several percent.
It should be noted here that Moldova is a parliamentary republic and since 1999 the President of Moldova has been elected by the parliament.
The Moldovan president has very limited, mainly representative functions, although he is the formal leader of the state.
In the last parliamentary elections in the winter of 2019, Maia Sandu entered parliament on the list of her own party, and in the spring of the same year she headed the cabinet as a result of the consensus of opposition parliamentary parties on the expulsion of the oligarch and leader of the ruling Democratic Party Vladimir Plahotniuc from the country.
Then the socialists of Dodon received the post of speaker of parliament, and the party of Andrei Nastase - the post of Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Six months later, in November, the government of Maia Sandu was dismissed during the political intrigue of President Igor Dodon, and as a result of the collusion of the socialists with the faction of the Democratic Party of Plahotniuc in parliament, a new coalition was formed - Dodon's man, Ion Chicu, became the head of the cabinet.
Sandu and her party found themselves in familiar opposition.
It is important to note here that for almost a year - right up to the last presidential elections - Dodon and his socialists had maximum power opportunities, occupying three main posts in the country.
Unfortunately, this real opportunity to fundamentally change something for Moldova and Moldovan citizens was never realized.
By the way, the status of the Russian language, about which so much was said in the past and today's election campaigns, has remained the same foreign language, and the trade turnover with Russia has dropped to third place.
In the past presidential elections, Maia Sandu took first place in the first round, ahead of the incumbent president by several percent (36% versus 32%).
However, since none of the candidates gained 50%, the second round determined the outcome of the elections.
According to the results of the first round, the third place was taken by the mayor of the northern capital of Moldova, the city of Balti, Renato Usatii with 17% of the vote.
The former comrades-in-arms in the 2015 protests, Usatii and Dodon, approached this campaign as irreconcilable enemies.
Relationships deteriorated to the point that opponents turned to personal insults.
As a result, despite some ideological contradictions, Renato Usatii in the second round supported Maia Sanda under the assurances to fulfill his promises to voters to dissolve the current parliament and call new early parliamentary elections.
As a result, Sandu defeated Dodona with a very decent margin of almost 16% and in a fierce struggle.
Of course, the fears of how Moldova will be turned 180 degrees by the election of a Harvard master's graduate and a student of international organizations as president should be divided by 180. In general, the president in Moldova has less power than the British queen.
Today, however, Maia Sandu is faced with the difficult task of re-uniting Moldovan society, deeply divided and torn apart by political battles and poverty.
In the end, Moldova and its citizens need a president not pro-Western or pro-Eastern, but pro-Moldovan.
The one who will put the national interests of the citizens of the country above his own and everyone else.
And the national interest of Moldova simply dictates to have excellent, friendly and constructive relations with Russia, where, according to some estimates, there are up to 700 thousand Moldovan workers.
Maya Sandu has a chance to become such a president.
Rather, the president.
The author's point of view may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.