The current President of Moldova, Maia Sandu, won the second round of the presidential election held on November 3. According to preliminary data published on the website of the Central Election Commission, she received 55.41% of the vote, while her opponent, former Prosecutor General of Moldova Alexandru Stoianoglo, received 44.59% of the vote.
As of Monday morning, 99.86% of the voting protocols have been counted. Votes from three polling stations in the United States have not been counted.
According to these data, 1,679,293 Moldovan citizens took part in the elections, which is 54.31% of the voters on the voting lists. Sandu received 930,512 votes, while Stoianoglo received 748,781 votes.
Stoianoglo, who ran as a candidate of the opposition Socialist Party, conceded defeat on Sunday evening, thanking voters for their support.
At the same time, Sandu lost the election in Moldova, gaining 48.81% of the vote against Stoianoglo’s 51.19%. In the Gagauz autonomy, Stoianonglo (a Gagauz by nationality) won 97% of the vote, with almost 80% of the residents of the Transnistrian region who took part in the elections also voting for him. More than 26 thousand voters cast their ballots at 30 polling stations open to residents of the left bank of the Nistru River on the right bank.
Sandu won the election with a large margin thanks to the vote abroad. A total of 328,877 voters cast their ballots at 231 polling stations abroad, which is more than 20% of the total number of voters. This is an absolute record of participation in elections by Moldovan citizens abroad. Sandu received more than 270 thousand votes at polling stations abroad, almost 83% of those who voted.
Sandu pledged to “be a president for all”. She said this at a briefing on Monday night, when it became clear that she had won.
“Dear Moldovans, I am grateful to each of you who came to the polls. I heard your voice: those who supported me and those who voted for Mr. Stoianoglo. I pledge to be president for all of you. No one will lose in our choice of a decent future. We may hold different points of view, speak different languages, but we all want peace, understanding and a decent life for our children. This is my main goal for Moldova in the coming years. We need to unite the society,” Sandu said.
Earlier, the Experts Club think tank presented an analytical material on the most important elections in the world in 2024, more detailed video analysis is available here – https://youtu.be/73DB0GbJy4M?si=eGb95W02MgF6KzXU
You can subscribe to the Experts Club YouTube channel here – https://www.youtube.com/@ExpertsClub
Agricultural enterprises increased milk production by 3.4% in September 2024 compared to the same period last year, Infagro, an industry news and analysis agency, reported citing data from the State Statistics Committee.
Analysts predict that in 2024, milk production by this category of producers will increase by 4% to 2.9 million tons.
“The total milk production by all categories for the first nine months of the year is 5.6 million tons, which is 2.9% lower than in the same period of 2023. The volume of milk production in the category of agricultural enterprises in the first nine months is 5.1% higher than in the same period last year (2.2 million tons),” the experts explained.
As of October 1, the number of cows in Ukraine was estimated at 1.24 million, which is 6.6% lower than on the same date last year. At the same time, there are 0.38 million heads in agricultural enterprises (-1.8%), Infagro summarized.
In January-September 2024, ARX Insurance Company (IC ARX Kyiv) collected more than UAH 3.1 billion in insurance premiums, which is 14% more than in the same period a year earlier, according to the insurer.
According to the company, payments for the first nine months amounted to UAH 1.3 billion, up 28%. On average, insurance claims payments per day amounted to UAH 6.5 million.
The company also reports that over UAH 1.7 billion in premiums were collected for motor hull insurance, which is 24% more than in the first nine months of the previous year, UAH 360.8 million (+10%) for property insurance, and UAH 256.1 million (+23%) for MTPL insurance.
In the 13 months since the launch of property insurance against war risks, ARX has insured more than 200 companies with a total coverage of UAH 2.659 billion.
The company’s total insurance premiums, including life and non-life segments, amounted to UAH 3.40 billion (+14% yoy). In the life insurance segment, insurance premiums amounted to UAH 251.2 million (+7% by 2023).
According to the report, ARX and ARX life insurance companies paid UAH 358 million in taxes in the first nine months of 2024. In total, since the beginning of the war, they have paid more than UAH 1 billion in taxes to the state budget.
ARX and ARX Life are part of the international insurance holding Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd.
ARX Insurance Company is one of the five leading insurance companies in Ukraine in terms of premiums collected and payments made. It has been a leader in the hull insurance segment of the Ukrainian market for 13 years.
ARX Life is among the top ten companies in the life insurance market in Ukraine.
In October 2024, Ukraine exported a record volume of goods worth more than $3.8 billion, which is 18.7% more than in September this year, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Yulia Svyrydenko said.
“A significant increase in exports in October was made possible by an increase in the supply of agricultural products. In October, exports of agricultural products increased by 32.3% in value and 33.8% in weight. This made it possible to increase the physical volume of exports to 10.9 million tons, which is 26.2% more than in September this year. We owe these achievements to our defenders, who ensure the operation of the sea corridor despite threats from the enemy. In October, exports by sea grew by 28.2% in monetary terms and 37.1% in weight,” the press service of the Ministry of Economy quoted her as saying.
According to Svyrydenko, according to preliminary data, since the beginning of 2024, exports of goods have totaled almost $34.6 billion.
“Given the current dynamics of exports in goods, we can predict with some caution that this year’s exports in monetary terms will exceed last year’s figures. Let me remind you: In 2023, it was $36.2 billion. In terms of physical volumes, we have already exported more in the first 10 months of 2024 than in the whole of last year. This is 110 million tons in total for 10 months of this year, compared to 100 million tons in 2023,” the Minister of Economy explained.
Taras Kachka, Deputy Minister of Economy and Trade Representative of Ukraine, said that in October, Ukraine exported the most sunflower, safflower or cottonseed oil in monetary terms – by $447.2 million, or 481.3 thousand tons, corn – by $447.2 million, or 481.3 thousand tons. tons, corn – by $363.6 million, or 1.9 million tons, respectively, wheat – by $318.2 million, or 1.6 million tons, soybeans – by $260 million, or 675 thousand tons, rapeseed – by $239.2 million, or 476.3 thousand tons, iron ore and concentrates – by $166.8 million, or 2.5 million tons.
Ukrainian producers exported most of their goods to Poland, Germany, Spain, Italy, Italy, and Turkey. Overall, in October, Ukraine exported $2.38 billion worth of goods to the EU, up 15.8% compared to September.
“The European Union is Ukraine’s key trading partner. That is why we are making every effort to provide our exporters with the most favorable conditions for access to European markets and integration of Ukrainian producers into European value chains,” summarized the Ukrainian trade representative.
Americans are voting for their next president in a general election that culminates on Tuesday 5 November.
Once polls close, depending on how close the contest is, it is possible a winner will not be projected for several hours, days or even weeks. Here’s what you need to know.
Democrat Kamala Harris, the current vice-president, and Republican Donald Trump, the former president, have been running neck-and-neck for weeks.
National and swing state polls have tightened as 5 November draws closer, so there could be very narrow margins of victory in several places, which may require votes to be recounted.
It is also possible that some results may come in more slowly this year due to changes in how individual states – including all seven swing states that will ultimately decide the race – have administered their elections since 2020.
On the other hand, vote-counting has been sped up in places like Michigan, and far fewer votes will be cast by mail this time than in the last election, which was held during the Covid pandemic.
This means there are a number of possible outcomes – a winner declared on election night, the next morning or possibly days or weeks later.
The 2020 election took place on Tuesday 3 November, but US TV networks did not declare Joe Biden the winner until late morning on Saturday 7 November.
As Americans went to bed on election night, Trump supporters felt confident victory was near but, in fact, both candidates were within reach of the 270 electoral college votes needed to become president-elect.
Though the vast majority of states called their races within a 24-hour period, a handful of key states – including Pennsylvania and Nevada – did not.
Pennsylvania, with its 19 electoral votes, had however been trending toward the Democrats. On Saturday morning, a fresh batch of ballots counted from the battleground state gave networks the confidence to project that Biden would win there.
CNN was the first to announce the result, with every other TV network following suit over the next 15 minutes.
Generally, voters have become used to the idea that they will know who the next president is going to be by the time they go to bed late on election night or at least in the early morning hours of the next day.
In 2016, for example, when Trump first won the presidency, he was declared the winner shortly before 03:00 EST (08:00 GMT) the day after the election.
In 2012, when Barack Obama secured a second term, his victory was projected before midnight on polling day itself.
But one notable recent exception was the 2000 election between George W Bush and Al Gore.
The two campaigns went to war over a tight contest in Florida, and the race was not decided until 12 December when the US Supreme Court voted to end the state’s recount process, keeping Bush in place as the certified winner and thus handing him the keys to the White House.
Across the country, the first polls will close at 18:00 EST (23:00 GMT) on Tuesday evening and the last polls will close at 01:00 EST (06:00 GMT) early on Wednesday.
But this race is expected to come down to results from the seven swing states – Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
19:00 EST (00:00 GMT) – Polls close in Georgia and five other states, and partially in two more states. This is also when US TV networks are likely to begin making their first calls of the night, in less competitive states like Kentucky.
19:30 EST (00:30 GMT) – Polls close across three states, including North Carolina, where Harris is hoping to end a string of losses for Democratic presidential candidates since 2008.
20:00 EST (01:00 GMT) – Polls close in Pennsylvania, 15 other states and the District of Columbia, as well as partially in Michigan and four other states.
21:00 EST (02:00 GMT) – All remaining polls close in Michigan. Voting will also end in Arizona, Wisconsin and 12 other states.
22:00 EST (03:00 GMT) – Polls close across Nevada and two other states, and partially in two others.
Typically, the votes cast on election day are tallied first, followed by early and mail ballots, those that have been challenged, and then overseas and military ballots.
Local election officials – sometimes appointed, sometimes elected – verify, process and count individual votes, in a process known as canvassing.
Verifying ballots includes comparing the number cast with the number of active voters; removing, unfolding and examining every single ballot for tears, stains or other damage; and documenting and investigating any inconsistencies.
Counting ballots involves feeding each one into electronic scanners that tabulate their results. Some circumstances require manual counts or double-checked tallies.
Every state and locality has rigorous rules which specify who can participate in the canvass, the order in which votes are processed and which parts are open to the public, including how partisan observers can monitor and intervene in vote-counting.
Tight margins will compel media outlets to wait longer before making their projections, but they also raise the spectre of recounts and legal challenges.
In Pennsylvania, for example, an automatic state-wide recount goes into effect if there’s a half-percentage point difference between the votes cast for the winner and the loser. In 2020, the margin was just over 1.1 percentage points.
More than 100 pre-election lawsuits have already been filed across the country, including challenges to voter eligibility and voter roll management by Republicans. Ongoing court rulings in these cases have been shaping this race by the day.
Other scenarios that could cause delays include any instances of election-related disorder, particularly at polling locations, and obstacles to vote-counting, like the bursting of a water pipe at a ballot processing site in Georgia in 2020.
Once every valid vote has been included in the final results, and after processes such as recounts have been completed, the election results are certified – first in local jurisdictions, then at the state-wide level.
A state executive, typically the governor, then certifies what’s known as a slate of electors that will represent their state in the electoral college. These electors meet in their respective states on 17 December to cast their votes and send them to Washington.
On 6 January, a new US Congress meets in a joint session to count the electoral votes, with the current vice-president presiding.
After the 2020 election, Trump refused to concede and rallied supporters to march on the US Capitol as Congress was meeting to certify Biden’s victory.
He urged his vice-president, Mike Pence, to reject the results – but Pence refused.
Even after the riot was cleared and members of Congress regrouped, 147 Republicans voted unsuccessfully to overturn Trump’s loss.
Electoral reforms since then have made it harder for lawmakers to object to certified results sent to them from individual states, and have also clarified that the vice-president has no power to unilaterally reject electoral votes.
Nevertheless, election watchers expect that efforts to delay certification of the 2024 vote could take place at the local and state level.
Trump, his running mate JD Vance and top Republican leaders on Capitol Hill have refused on several occasions to state unequivocally that they will accept the results of the election if he loses.
The president-elect will begin their term in office after being inaugurated on Monday, 20 January 2025, in the grounds of the US Capitol complex.
It will be the 60th presidential inauguration in US history.
The event will see the new president sworn in on a pledge to uphold the Constitution and then deliver their inaugural address.
Zaporozhkoks, one of Ukraine’s largest coke and chemical producers and part of Metinvest Group, increased its blast furnace coke output by 1.9% year-on-year to 729.1 thousand tons from 715.1 thousand tons in January-October this year.
According to the company, it produced 73.8 thousand tons of coke in October.
As reported, Zaporozhkoks increased its blast furnace coke output by 16% in 2023 compared to 2022, up to 856.8 thousand tons from 737.4 thousand tons.
“Zaporozhkoks produces about 10% of coke in Ukraine and has a full technological cycle of coke products processing. It also produces coke oven gas and pitch coke.
“Metinvest is a vertically integrated mining group of companies. Its major shareholders are SCM Group (71.24%) and Smart Holding (23.76%), which jointly manage the company.
Metinvest Holding LLC is the management company of Metinvest Group.
