"Gagauzia wants to be a friend of Russia," says Valentina, a middle-aged woman with Ukrainian roots. Valentina is sorting receipts on a park bench in Comrat, the capital of the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia in southern Moldova.

Like 95% of voters in Gagauzia, she voted "no" in the referendum on October 20, rejecting the proposal to anchor Moldova's ambition to join the European Union in the country's constitution.

This was a record rejection of the European Union. Even in the pro-Russia breakaway region of Transnistria, where Russian troops have been stationed for over 30 years, over one-third of the electorate voted in favor of joining the EU.

When asked what she knows about the European Union, Valentina is evasive. "I'm not interested in politics," she says.

On November 3, voters in Moldova will go to the polls again for the run-off in the country's presidential election. Valentina says that she intends to vote for Alexandr Stoianoglo, the opponent of Moldova's pro-European incumbent president, Maia Sandu.

Stoianoglo has the backing of the pro-Russian Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova (PSRM). He boycotted the EU referendum by simply not taking the referendum ballot offered to him at the polling station.

Valentina tells DW that she has visited an EU member state, Bulgaria, but was not impressed. "They don't have it any better than we do," she says. "I saw people selling tomatoes and........

© Deutsche Welle