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Moldovan election declared legally valid

March 22, 1998
Web posted at: 12:29 p.m. EDT (1229 GMT)

Chisinau, Moldova (CNN) -- Moldova's Central Electoral Commission said more than half of the registered voters had cast ballots in Sunday's parliamentary election, making it legally valid.

"As of 3 p.m. (1300 GMT), 50.12 percent of the electorate have voted," a spokesman for the commission said. "The election is valid." Under the former Soviet republic's constitution, turnout must be above 50 percent.

Fifteen parties and 60 independent candidates were competing for places in the 101-seat parliament which, unlike many other former Soviet republics, holds real power.

Polls were to close at 9 p.m. (1900 GMT), and preliminary results were expected Monday morning.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe deployed about 140 foreign election observers in the republic, located between Romania and Ukraine.

Tumbling living standards -- rather than ties with ethnic kin in neighboring Romania or the country's intractable conflict with Slav separatists in the east -- are the main concern for most voters.

Since independence, living standards have dramatically dropped with the implementation of slow and confusing market reforms. As in many former Soviet states, there are long delays in the payment of salaries and pensions.

The Communist Party favors a state-controlled economy and strong political and military ties with Russia.

"Our main economic partner will be the Russian federation," said party leader Vladimir Voronin after he voted in Kishinev.

Communists are competing against the right-wing Democratic Convention, which backs faster market reforms and a western-oriented foreign policy.

The centrist Bloc for a Democratic and Prosperous Moldova, an alliance informally supported by President Petru Lucinschi, is appealing to middle-of-the-road voters with promises of more welfare programs and stronger ties with Russia and the West.

"The country needs a strong centrist party," Lucinschi said Sunday. But he said he was ready to cooperate with any party that emerges victorious.

Lucinschi also said he will insist that the winners retain the current premier, Ion Ciubuc, who took the post after Lucinschi won presidential elections last year.

None of the dozen parties running is expected to get a majority, and no major shakeup was expected in how the country is governed.

Related sites:

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• The United Nations Office in Moldova
• Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
• Moldova information

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