COMMUNISTS BACK AGAIN IN MOLDOVA

Moldova, former Soviet south-western republic of Moldavia, has just been through its parliamentary elections. According to the Central Electoral Commission of Moldova, which has already counted 97.26% of the votes cast during the Sunday pre-term parliamentary election, the Communist Party has been at the head of the poll as of 9:00 a.m. Moscow time. The Communists have received 50.2% of the counted votes, deputy CEC Chairman Nikolai Televko is quoted as saying by RIA Novosti. The Communist Party's rival No.1, the electoral bloc of Moldovan Prime Minister Dumitru Braghis, came second with 13.45% of the votes, followed by the Christian Democratic Party (8.18%), the Democratic Party of ex-Chairman of the Moldovan Parliament Dumitru Diakov (4.97%), and ex-President Mircea Snegur's Party of Revival and Conciliation (5.63%). The CEC says the turnout was 69%.