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Pro-Western Alliance Leads Communists in Moldovan Polls

30 November 2010 00:33 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Moldovaâ€™s pro-Western alliance held a slim lead Monday over communists in vote counting from Sundayâ€™s parliamentary elections, but appeared to be falling short of the majority needed to push through its choice for president, APA reports quoting â€œThe Voice of Americaâ€.

Moldova has been without a full-time president for more than a year, and the polls were held to resolve the political deadlock.

With 95 percent of the votes tallied, the three liberal parties of Prime Minister Vlad Filatâ€™s Alliance for European Integration held 50 percent of the vote, against the Communistsâ€™ 41 percent.

If the current tallies hold, Mr. Filatâ€™s alliance will control 57 parliamentary seats, to the Communistsâ€™ 44. However, Moldovan law requires 61 votes in the 101-member legislature to elect a president.

With neither side in the deeply-divided parliament able to legislate without the help of the other, analysts say the political impasse gripping the country may well continue.

Final results are expected later Monday.

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That paralysis has brought Moldovan voters to the polls four times in less than two years â€” three times to pick a new parliament and once to change the constitution to allow a president to be elected by popular vote.

The political stalemate has held up much needed political and economic reforms in the impoverished ex-Soviet state.