CHISINAU, Moldova, March 6 -- The ruling Communist Party in the former Soviet republic of Moldova held an 11-point lead in parliamentary elections Sunday, an exit poll showed, in a vote shaping up to be another blow to Russia's waning influence in its former empire.
Moldova's Communists, once allied with Russia, have switched loyalties in recent years and now favor closer ties to the European Union.
A woman emerges from a voting booth in the Moldovan village of Hrusova. An exit poll showed the ruling Communist Party with 40 percent of the vote.
(Bogdan Cristel -- Reuters)
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In the exit poll based on 90 percent of the voters, the Communists won 40 percent of the vote, the centrist Democratic Moldova Bloc 29 percent and the center-right Popular Christian Democratic Party 14 percent. The poll, which had a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points, was carried out by the Institute for Marketing and Polls and two other groups, Opinia and Civis.
The Communists and the two centrist parties were the only parties out of 15 to win enough votes to gain seats in the 101-member Parliament, the poll showed. There was no breakdown on seats won.
President Vladimir Voronin's Communists would be able to form a government if final results confirm the party's lead, though they may not have enough seats for a clear majority to keep the presidency. Parliament chooses the president, and 61 votes are needed.
Parliament has 45 days to choose the president; if it fails to do so, new elections must be held.
Voronin has been criticized for being heavy-handed with the opposition and tightly controlling the state media. But his Communist Party has led the country, Europe's poorest, through four years of economic growth.
The Communists' deteriorating relations with the Kremlin have bolstered the Democratic Moldova Bloc, a pro-Moscow alliance headed by Serafim Urechean, the mayor of Chisinau, Moldova's capital.
"Today we are deciding the path of development that Moldova will take for the future," Urechean said.
Ties between Russia and Moldova soured over the Russian-speaking Trans-Dniester region, a sliver of land on Moldova's eastern border that effectively broke away after a 1992 war that left 1,500 people dead. Its separatist government is not recognized internationally but receives support from Russia, whose troops give Moscow a foothold in the region.
On Friday, Russian lawmakers urged the cabinet to impose economic sanctions on Moldova in response to what they described as its efforts to blockade the Trans-Dniester enclave.
About 2.3 million Moldovans were eligible to vote, and 58.9 percent of them cast ballots, election officials said.
"I voted for the Communists because they look after the old people, and they doubled my pension," said Ana Vasentciuc, 70, who has a monthly pension equivalent to $35.
About 770 foreign observers monitored the elections.
Nine special stations were opened near the border with Trans-Dniester so the separatist region's 700,000 residents could vote. Trans-Dniester authorities have refused to allow any polling stations in their territory.
