Moldovans were evenly split on Monday amid final counting in a geopolitically momentous referendum on European Union accession with 50.08% in favor and 49.92% against, electoral authorities said.

Moldova has narrowly backed a move for closer ties to the EU in a referendum, electoral authorities say. The yes campaign won the vote with a margin of less than a per cent - just a few thousand votes. The referendum asked voters to choose whether to enshrine a path towards European Union membership in the country's constitution.

In an address to the southeast European nation on the day of the referendum, Ms Sandu said there was “clear evidence” that criminal groups working with foreign forces hostile to Moldova’s interests sought to buy off 300,000 votes, something she called “fraud of unprecedented scale”.