With about 95% of the votes cast in the national constituency counted by 5am, the Central Election Commission said the Party of Socialists won 31.75% of the poll, being followed by the electoral bloc ACUM Platform DA and PAS with  25.26%, IPN reports.

The Democratic Party gained 24.48% of the vote, while the Shor Party – 8.55%.

The electoral score of the other 11 election runners is below the 6% threshold for entering Parliament. The Party of Communists, which formed part of the current legislature, won only 3.83% of the ballot, the Our Party – 2.87% and another parliamentary party, the Liberal Party scored 1.21% of the poll. The other parties won less than 1%.

For the first time in the Republic of Moldova, the 101 MPs were elected based on the mixed electoral system under which 50 MPs are elected according to party lists in the national constituency, while 51 MPs are elected in 51 single-member constituencies.

The voter turnout at the February 24 parliamentary elections was of over 49% of those put on the registers or about 1.451 million people.