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Three main pro-Europe parties likely to form coalition government in Moldova

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Published: 11:05pm, 1 Dec, 2014

Updated: 11:05pm, 1 Dec, 2014

A Moldovan man (left) votes while being watched by a young boy during Moldova's parliamentary elections, at a polling station organised at Molodva's embassy in Bucharest. Photo: EPA

Moldova's three main pro-Europe parties appeared yesterday to be able to form a new coalition government, despite the pro-Moscow Socialist Party taking first place in Sunday's election.

With 87 per cent of the vote counted, according to the election authorities, the three parties - the Liberal Democrats, the Liberals and the Democrats - had a combined vote of 44 per cent - enough to win a majority in the 101-seat parliament.

This was in spite of the pro-Russia Socialist Party taking a surprise lead with 21.5 per cent of the vote and the communists, who wish to revise part of a trade deal with the EU, taking third place with 17.8 per cent.

The three-party coalition, led by Prime Minister Iurie Leanca's Liberal Democrats, has piloted one of Europe's smallest and poorest countries along a course of integration with mainstream Europe since 2009, culminating in the ratification of a landmark association agreement with the EU this year.

Sunday's vote took place in the shadow of a separatist war in neighbouring Ukraine triggered by it following similar pro-Europe policies that set it on a collision course with Moscow.

Central Election Commission chairman Iurie Ciocan speaks during a news conference at the commission's headquarters in Chisinau. Photo: Reuters

Pre-election surveys showed deep division over whether ex-Soviet Moldova should stick to the pro-Europe path pursued for the past five years or move back into Russia's orbit.

This, together with the coalition's poor record of fighting corruption and conducting deep reform, as well as Russian pressure on Moldova to change course, had raised questions over the coalition's ability to hold on to power. "The three (coalition) parties, whose strategic aim is European integration, will have no difficulty in forming a ruling majority even without the help of the parties of the left," said analyst Oazu Nantoi, director of the Institute of Public Policies political research centre.

He predicted they would be able to muster 54 seats in the new parliament, a comfortable majority in the assembly.

The lastest figures released by election authorities gave the Liberal Democrats 19.2 per cent of the vote, the Democratic Party 15.8 per cent and the Liberal Party 9.4 per cent.

A member of a local electoral commission empties a ballot box after a parliamentary election at a polling station in Chisinau on November 30, 2014. Photo: Reuters

The strong vote for the socialists, whose leader Igor Dodon is close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, reflected a deep reluctance among many to diminish the close, historic relationship with Russia, the main supplier of energy - and also a fear of the consequences.

Moldova's breakaway pro-Russian enclave of Transdniestria gives Russia a potential springboard for action in the landlocked country of 3.5 million, wedged between war-torn Ukraine and EU member Romania. Moscow though has so far shown no readiness to intervene. Many analysts say that with Moldova already gaining from the EU deal - its citizens can travel visa-free to Western Europe - the pro-European drive will be difficult to reverse.