"Russia and Russian influence? No thank you!" This was the clear message sent out by an unexpectedly large majority of voters in Sunday's parliamentary election in the Republic of Moldova.
The winner by a clear margin was the ruling pro-European Action and Solidarity (PAS) party, which contrary to all opinion poll predictions in the run-up to the election garnered just over 50% of the vote, unexpectedly retaining its absolute majority.
Even though it lost eight seats, it is still likely to have a majority of 55 of the 101 seats in parliament.
The pro-Russian Patriotic Electoral Bloc alliance led by former President Igor Dodon got just 24% of the vote, a result that was much lower than anticipated by many opinion polls.