Moldovan Communists lose ground in parliament election

CHISINAU (Reuters) - Moldova's ruling Communists lost ground to the West-leaning opposition in a parliamentary election on Wednesday, and the pro-Russian party was unlikely to win enough seats to elect a new president, early results showed.

Moldova, Europe's poorest country, is wavering between East and West with elderly and rural voters supporting the Communists and the urban youth who look toward the European Union.

Veteran Communist leader Vladimir Voronin dissolved parliament last month and called the election after opposition parties twice thwarted his plan to have parliament elect his handpicked successor as president.

With just over one third of ballots counted, official results showed the Communists had 48.5 percent of the vote, slightly less than the party scored in the April election. The Liberal Democrats were in second place with 14.7 percent.

An exit poll by the Institute of Public Politics showed the Communists won just 41.7 percent which would give them only about 45 seats in the 101-member parliament.

That is 15 seats less than the Communists won in an April election and too few to elect a new president to succeed Voronin, who has ruled the former Soviet republic since 2001.

Voronin called the exit poll "an amateur performance" and said such polls had been specially designed to underestimate the true support for the Communist party. The exit pollsters talked with 17,385 voters at 200 ballot stations.

Violent protests against an April election the opposition said was rigged prompted Voronin -- backed by former imperial master Russia -- to accuse Romania, a NATO and EU member, of seeking to overthrow his government.

The Communists want closer ties with Europe, but see Moscow as a "strategic partner." Russia keeps troops in the ex-Soviet state's separatist Transdniestria region and supplies over 90 percent of the nation's energy. It has promised $500 million in loans to help the country in the global crisis.

MOLDOVA AT CROSSROADS

Voronin, who has made clear he wants to preserve influence after a successor is chosen, warned Moldovans that a vote against his party would place the former Soviet republic in danger of extinction.

The Communists campaigned under a slogan "Defend your motherland" and warned that if pro-Romanian parties won Moldova's sovereignty would be surrendered.

All major parties say Moldova is at a crossroads and more than 3,000 election monitors were observing the elections.

The election commission said 58.5 percent of the 2.6 million Moldovans eligible to vote had cast their ballots, up from 54 percent in April.

"The Communists have a good chance because they have done a lot in eight years," said Valentina, 67, in central Chisinau.

But other voters were critical of the ruling party.

"Down with the Communists! Enough is enough," said Leonid, 54, after voting at a theater in the capital.

The campaign exposed a gap between Voronin's voters in impoverished villages and among ethnic minorities and the mostly young, urban electorate of his opponents who want integration with Europe, where vast numbers of Moldovan migrants work.

Many young voters support closer ties with Romania, which shares a common language and history with the ex-Soviet state. Relations sank to an unprecedented low under Voronin.

Most of Moldova was once part of Romania and 800,000 residents have applied for or secured Romanian citizenship. Moldova's local currency, the leu, was little changed against the U.S. dollar ahead of the vote.

(Writing by Guy Faulconbridge, Editing by Michael Roddy)