(ANSA) - CHISINAU, SEP 28 - Polls open in Moldova for legislative elections that are shaping up to be a watershed for the country in the direction of Europe or Russia. Citizens will be able to go to the polls from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Anticipation for the polls in the former Soviet republic that oscillates between Western integration and a return to the Russian orbit. Polls tell of a neck-and-neck race: the pro-European Action and Solidarity Party (Pas) of President Maia Sandu and Premier Dorin Recean, led by Igor Grosu, leads at 24.9 percent, just a handful of votes above the pro-Russian patriotic bloc of former President Igor Dodo, at 24.7 percent. Moldova's president, Maia Sandu, showed up early in the morning at the polling station at the Petru Rares Theoretical High School in Chisinau to place her ballot in the ballot box for the parliamentary elections that will decide the direction of the former Soviet republic, at the crossroads between a future in Europe or a return under Russia's orbit. "I voted to preserve peace and Moldova's European future. Today is the time to show love for our country. Tomorrow may be too late," she said. She, founder of the pro-EU Pas party, made a direct appeal to citizens. "Your vote decides the fate of the country. We are a small nation but with worthy people, who will not sell their country either for 400 lei or 400 euros. We do not allow thieves and traitors to mortgage our future," she stressed, assuring that the authorities are committed to ensuring the safety of all voters. The president returned to denouncing the Kremlin's attempts to interfere in the electoral process, speaking of "buying and selling votes, training young people in violence and recruiting Moldovans to spread false accounts on social media so as to destabilize the country and attempt to seize power in Chisinau." Polling stations will remain open until 9 p.m. local time, 8 p.m. in Italy. (ANSA).