NOT A SINGLE OF 4 PARLIAMENTARY PARTIES WILL HAVE MAJORITY IN NEW LEGISLATURE - ELECTION RESULTS IN MOLDOVA

The new Parliament of Moldova, after the Sunday's ordinary parliamentary election, will consist of the representatives of 4 political forces, but none of them will have a parliamentary majority, as per the preliminary results of the February 24 parliamentary election made public by the Central Election Commission.

According to the results drawn upon the processing of 98.5% voting records, the pro-presidential Party of Socialists (PSRM) is standing on the top position, having polled slightly over 31.4%.

Following second is the Right-wing pro-European voting bloc ACUM with 26.11%. The 3rd is the ruling Democratic Party of Moldova that has received 24% votes.

The new Parliament will have also the representatives of the Ilan Shor Party chaired by business tycoon Ilan Shor sentenced by the first-instance court to 7 years and 6 months in jail for embezzling huge sums from the Moldovan banking system. Shor denies his conviction. His party polled 8.46% yesterday.

All the rest 10 parties received much less than the 6% election threshold stipulated by the law for an organization to get to parliament. Of them, the highest gain, 3.8%, is with the formerly governing Moldovan Communist Party (MCP).

The preliminary results of voting in single-member constituencies are showing that the first three of the above-mentioned leading parties will receive an approximately equal number of parliamentary mandates from these constituencies - 12-15 MPs each.

Thus, according to preliminary estimates, the Party of Socialists may altogether receive 35 mandates in the 101-member Parliament of Moldova, the Democratic Party - about 30, ACUM - some 25, and the Ilan Shor Party - 8 mandates. The rest 10 mandates will go to independent candidates or the representatives of other parties in single-member constituencies.

The Central Election Commission is going to announce more precise election results at about Monday noon local time.

So far, only the Democratic Party has stated readiness to start negotiations on forming a parliamentary majority. On the other hand, only the Ilan Shor Party stands ready to enter into a coalition with the Democrats. But these two parties will all the same be short of mandates enough for forming a majority and appointing a government.

The PSRM and ACUM categorically reject whatever possibility of creating a coalition between themselves or with the Democratic Party. In such a situation, the formation of a parliamentary majority looks really problematic. So, the most probable outcome is a snap parliamentary election. Analysts also presume that the Democratic Party may form a majority with the help of deputies who will 'migrate' into the Democratic camp from other parliamentary factions. For instance, at the previous election of November 2014, the Democratic Party won only 19 mandates in the incumbent outgoing Parliament, but already in a year the Democrats came to have a parliamentary majority - thanks to 'migrants' from other parties.

Yet before the February 24 elections, President Igor Dodon stated that if not a single party wins a majority in the new forum, then the possibility of holding a snap election should be considered.

On February 24, slightly fewer than 1.45 million voters went to the polls, which constituted 49.18% total number of registered voters. However, the voter turnout rule for parliamentary elections was cancelled in Moldova recently. For the first time ever, this parliamentary election was held on the basis of the mixed election system, according to which 51 MPs are elected in single-member constituencies and the rest 50 - in the nation-wide electoral constituency on the basis of party tickets.