Communist leader Vladimir Voronin was elected Moldovan president by parliament Wednesday, parliamentary sources said.
Moldova thus becomes first member of the Commonwealth of Independent States, formed after the collapse of the Soviet Union, to elect a Communist president.
Voronin won 71 votes, defeating Prime Minister Dumitru Braghis, leader of the center-left coalition Braghis Alliance, who gained 15 votes, and another Communist, Valerian Kristia, who won three votes.
The Communist Party won a comfortable victory in parliamentary elections in February, taking 64 seats in the 101-member assembly.
Voronin, 59, succeeds caretaker president Petru Lucinschi whose mandate expired in January but remained in charge of the impoverished former Soviet republic until a new president could be chosen.
Deputies failed last December to choose Lucinschi's successor after they modified the constitution in July to make Moldova the first CIS country to elect its president by indirect vote.
Voronin came within two votes of gaining the presidency but was blocked by a walkout of right-wing deputies.
Lucinschi then dissolved the parliament and called early general elections which were won by the communists following widespread discontent at the failure of half-hearted market reforms to raise the standard of living.
The former Soviet republic is one of the poorest countries in Europe, with an average wage of 400 lei (37 euros, 33 dollars) per month – CHISINAU (AFP)
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