CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) — Moldovans voted by a razor-thin majority to secure the country's path to European Union membership, election data showed Monday, after a vote that nearly dealt the pro-Western president a major setback would have “criminal groups” trying to undermine the vote.

When 99.41% of the 1.4 million votes were counted in the EU referendum held on Sunday, the “yes” vote was 50.39%, while 49.61% voted “no”, according to the Central Election Commission .

Until the last few thousand votes from the country's large diaspora were counted, it had looked as if the “no” vote would be in the lead. A loss would have been a political disaster for the pro-Western government, which strongly supported the pro-EU campaign.

On Monday, President Maia Sandu repeated claims that unprecedented electoral fraud and foreign interference had undermined the vote, calling it a “heinous attack” on Moldova's sovereignty.

“Unfortunately, the justice system has not done enough to prevent election fraud and corruption,” she said at a news conference. “Again, we need to draw a line in the sand, correct what went wrong and learn the lesson from it. “We heard you: we know we need to do more to fight corruption.”

Moldovan authorities claim Moscow has stepped up a “hybrid war” campaign to destabilize the country and derail its path to the EU. The allegations include funding pro-Moscow opposition groups, spreading disinformation, Interference in local elections and supporting a major vote-buying program.

In Brussels, the European Union's executive arm, the European Commission, said its services had also taken note of Russia's interference in Moldova and underlined that it continued to support Moldova on its path to EU accession.

“This vote took place amid unprecedented interference and intimidation by Russia and its proxies, with the aim of destabilizing the democratic processes in Moldova,” said spokesman Peter Stano.

Stano told reporters that allegations of vote buying, voter buses and disinformation were just the latest forms of Russian interference and that attempts had been made for months to undermine Moldova and its support for the EU.

In the presidential election held at the same time, Sandu won the first round with 42% of the vote in a field of 11, but failed to win an absolute majority. She will face Alexandr Stoianoglo, a pro-Russia former prosecutor general who topped polls with about 26% of the vote, in a Nov. 3 runoff.

When polling stations closed at 9 p.m. on Sunday, more than 1.5 million voters – about 51% of those eligible to vote – had cast their ballots, according to the Central Election Commission.

Cristian Cantir, a Moldovan associate professor of international relations at Oakland University, told The Associated Press that previous polls may have “overestimated the pro-EU sentiment” in Moldova and the referendum failed to pass without votes from outside the country were.

“It will be particularly problematic because … it will feed into narratives spread by the Kremlin and pro-Russian forces,” he said.

U.S. national security spokesman John Kirby reiterated fears of Russian interference this week, saying in a statement: “Russia is actively working to undermine Moldova's elections and its European integration.” Moscow has repeatedly denied that it is interferes in Moldova.

In early October, Moldovan law enforcement authorities said they had uncovered a massive vote-buying scheme orchestrated by Ilan Shor exiled pro-Russian oligarch who currently lives in Russia, which paid 15 million euros ($16.2 million) to 130,000 people to undermine the two ballots.

Shor was convicted in absentia last year He was sentenced to 15 years in prison for fraud and money laundering in the case of $1 billion that disappeared from banks in Moldova in 2014. He denied the allegations, saying the payments were legal and citing the right to freedom of expression. Shor's populist, Russia-friendly Shor Party was declared unconstitutional and banned last year.

On Thursday, Moldovan authorities foiled another plot in which more than 100 young Moldovans in Moscow were trained by private military groups on how to incite civil unrest related to the two votes. Some also attended “more advanced training in guerrilla camps” in Serbia and Bosnia, according to police, and four people were held for 30 days.

A pro-Western government has been in power in Moldova since 2021, a year after Sandu won the presidency. Parliamentary elections will take place next year.

Moldova, a former Soviet republic with about 2.5 million inhabitants, applied to join the EU on February 24, 2022 following Russia's full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine and was granted candidate status alongside Ukraine in the summer. Brussels agreed in June Start of accession negotiations.