UPDATE - Over Half Of Moldovans Oppose Country Joining NATO - Poll

CHISINAU (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th May, 2019) A poll published on Monday revealed that 54.8 percent of the Moldovan population did not want their country to become a member of NATO.

According to the same poll conducted by the Moldovan Association of Sociologists and Demographers in February, 63.1 percent of the Moldovan population were opposed to their country joining the military alliance.

Asked whether they would support NATO accession if a corresponding referendum were held on Sunday, 22.1 percent of respondents responded in the affirmative, a 0.2 point decrease from February's poll results.

Regarding the same question, 9.2 percent of respondents said they would not vote in the referendum, while 9.6 percent were unable to give a definite answer. The remaining 4.3 percent said they did not know what NATO was.

In addition, 39.1 percent of the respondents said that they would like their country to join the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) (with 42.9 percent in February), whereas 37.5 percent said they would like to join the European Union (with 41.2 percent in February). In case of a correspondent referendum, 6.3 percent of the respondents said they would not vote while 5.

9 percent were not sure about their answer.

A total of 11.2 percent of the respondents opined that their state had no need to join any union.

The poll was conducted by request of the Chisinau office of the International Institute for Monitoring Democracy Development, Parliamentarianism and Suffrage Protection of Citizens of the Interparliamentary Assembly of Member Nations of the Commonwealth of Independent States from May 1-10. A total of 1,189 people from 89 communities were interviewed. The margin of error is 3 percent.

Moldova is a constitutionally neutral state but has been cooperating with NATO since 1994 within an individual partnership plan. Chisinau has also hosted a NATO Liaison Office since December 2017, something that has been harshly criticized by Moldovan President Igor Dodon. In May 2018, the president stated that there was a distinct possibility that the office would be closed after the country's parliamentary elections, which were held this past February.

On May 14, 2018 Moldova became an observer in EAEU, an international organization for regional economic integration.