Transdniester Region Holds Parliamentary Elections

RFE/RL's Romania-Moldova Service correspondent Vitalie Condratchi said in Moldova's capital Chisinau this afternoon that, "The elections will [likely] be legitimate according to their election laws because the turnout was 23 percent of eligible voters at 12 o'clock noon. In order for the elections to be valid [under the local electoral laws], they need turnout of at least 25 percent."

About 180 candidates are competing for 43 seats in the local legistature.

The international community has declined to recognize the election and therefore did not send observers to the region's 278 polling stations.

Yesterday, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said it will not recognize the results from the poll.

The region -- a narrow strip of land between the Dniester River and the border with Ukraine -- proclaimed independence from Moldova in 1990. That led to a brief conflict in 1992 ended by a cease-fire enforced by Russian peacekeepers. The international community does not recognize the self-declared statehood of Transdniester, which has close ties to Moscow.

(RFE/RL's Romania-Moldova Service)