Moldova holds referendum on direct presidential ballots (2nd Lead)

Sep 5, 2010, 14:32 GMT

Kiev/Chisinau, Moldova - Moldovans went to the polls Sunday over a constitutional amendment for the reintroduction of direct presidential elections.

The pro-Europe government supports the suggested constitutional change as a way of resolving a long-running political crisis in the former Soviet republic.

Polls opened at 7 am (0400 GMT) without incident, with polling scheduled to run until 9 pm. Early turnout was light, with only 3 per cent of registered voters having cast ballots by 10 am, the Interfax news agency reported.

Transnistrian security forces in the village of Korzhova blocked the operation of a single polling site, but voting elsewhere in the village and across Moldova was proceeding normally, according to the RIA Novosti news agency.

Russian-speaking Transnistria seceded from Romanian-speaking Moldova after a civil war ending in 1992. Korzhova, located along a disputed ceasefire line, saw Transnistrian police block the operation of some Moldovan polling sites twice in 2009.

The referendum poll was the first-ever Moldovan national vote using computerized voter rolls. More than 250 international observers were in the country to monitor polling, according to the report.

Communist officials opposing the referendum's passage alleged the government was using the computer system to inflate turnout numbers artificially.

'This is why the Central Election Commission (CEC) computers are having problems,' said Communist Party spokesman Yury Muntian, according to an Infotag news agency report. 'This will allow them to falsify the vote result.'

At least 30 per cent of Moldova's 2.4 million registered voters must cast ballots for the referendum to be valid. The CEC web site saw delays during the morning, but functioned normally thereafter.

Initial vote counts would be announced Monday evening, CEC officials said.

'I am sure the referendum will pass,' said Mihai Gimpu, a senior coalition member and acting Moldovan president. 'Today, the people will teach some politicians a lesson. The Communists will have a huge defeat.'

The referendum proposes replacing the current system of electing a president by a 61-member majority of the 101-seat parliament with a direct national popular vote.

The current ruling four-party coalition controls 60 seats in the legislature and has been in power since July 2009.

The opposition Communist Party controls the remaining 41 seats in the national parliament, and has refused to give the coalition the single vote necessary to select a president.

The impasse has left Moldova in a political crisis for more than a year. Legislation approved by the coalition-controlled parliament cannot be signed into law, because the president's office is vacant.

Bloody street riots in April 2009 followed a parliamentary election that gave the Communists victory. Mass protests against vote fraud in the Communists' favour forced a repeat election in July, won by the coalition.