Preliminary results in the Moldovan parliamentary elections showed the Communists had swept to victory as voters embraced their promise of a return to more ordered, prosperous times.
"The Communists have won 50.2 per cent of the vote. In the new parliament, there will be only three factions," Mr Dumitru Nidelcu, head of the Central Election Commission, said on Monday after 97 per cent of the votes had been counted.
Political commentators said the result would enable the Communists to secure 70 or 71 seats of the 101-seat parliament and, crucially, vault the 61-seat hurdle needed to elect their own candidate as president.
The Communists' main rival, Prime Minister Dumitru Braghis's alliance of centrist parties and blocs, was second with 13.45 per cent of the vote and the radical nationalist Christian Democratic Popular Party secured 8.18 per cent.
Analysts had predicted voters would swing heavily to the Communists, who tapped into public despair about poverty and unemployment, fighting a campaign with promises to double salaries and pensions and restore order. In the last election in 1998 the Communists won 30 per cent of the vote.
The election was widely seen as crucial for bringing stability to one of Europe's poorest countries. Reform and vital legislation have been delayed by deadlock over the appointment of a new president, who is named by parliament.