Torn between EU and Russia, Moldova Votes for Parliament

World | November 30, 2014, Sunday // 11:03
Bulgaria: Torn between EU and Russia, Moldova Votes for Parliament The President of Moldova Nicolae Timofti reads his ballot before voting at a polling station during parliamentary elections in Chisinau, Moldova, 30 November 2014. Photo EPA/BGNES

Moldova is holding parliamentary elections on Sunday expected to decide whether the ex-Soviet country would maintain its recent course towards EU membership or turn back and move closer to Russia.

The central election committee declared the elections valid with turnout at 39.2% of voters as of 3:30 pm local time (1330 GMT). 

Early results are expected around midnight local time (2200 GMT). No exit polls are planned. 

According to the latest opinion surveysMoldova's current pro-EU government coalition – plus the Liberal Party, which left the coalition last year but is backing course to EU accession – together have about 49% support.

The Socialist Party, which backs customs union with Russia, together with the disqualified pro-Russian Patria party, had polled about 22% support in opinion polls, while the  traditionally Moscow-leaning Communist Party had polled 21%.

Moldova’s Appeals Court has banned Patria from running after the Central Election Commission asked for the pro-Russian party to be disqualified, claiming it had illegally used foreign financing for its election campaign. Patria’s leader, Renato Usatii, a Russian businessman of Moldovan origins, denied the allegation and fled to Russia earlier this week.

Moldovans are voting for members of the 101-seat parliament. The entry threshold is set at 6% of the vote. Some 78%of Moldova’s 3.6-million population is ethnic Romanian. Russians and Ukrainians account for about 14%.

A minimum turnout of at least one-third of eligible voters is needed to make the elections valid. As in previous elections, the Russian-backed breakaway region of Transdniestria isn’t voting.

With no party expected to win outright majority it is very difficult to predict what kind of ruling coalition might emerge from the elections in the country tucked between EU member Romania and Ukraine.

According to  Vladimir Socor, an analyst with the Washington-based Jamestown Foundation, “for the first time in its 23 years of independence, Moldova has the opportunity to finally tear itself away from Russia and decisively and irreversibly turn in the direction of the West."

Since 2009, Moldova has been governed by coalitions of pro-EU parties. The country has signed an Association Agreement with the EU and has achieved a visa-free travel regime with the bloc. The EU is Moldova's largest trading partner with 45% followed by Russia at 25%.

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Tags: moldova, elections, parliament, vote, Russia, EU

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