Pro-Russia party leads in Moldova elections

By Dmitri Chirciu

KISHINEV, Moldova

Nearly 98 percent of Sunday’s parliamentary elections votes were counted, the Supreme Electoral Council of Moldova said Monday.

Members of four political parties were vying for 101 seats.

The Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova (PSRM), founded by President Igor Dodon, who is known as pro-Russian, received the highest percentage at 31.32, according to unofficial results.

The pro-European alliance ACUM took 26.33 percent, while the Democratic Party of Moldova (PDM) had 23.93 percent and the Shor Party 8.41 percent.

The parliamentary elections were held for the first time with a mix of party and narrow-field electoral system. According to the new system, 50 of the deputies elected from the political party list and 51 from the list of polling district.

Voter turnout was 49.22 percent of a population of 3.5 million.