CHISINAU: Moldova’s pro-Europe parties appeared certain on Monday of being able to form a new coalition to press on with a drive toward the European mainstream after elections even though the pro-Moscow Socialist Party took first place.

With almost all votes counted from Sunday’s poll, election authorities said the Liberal Democrats, the Liberals and the Democratic Party had secured a combined vote of 44 percent, enough to win a simple majority in the 101-seat Parliament and form a new government team.

But the strong showing by the socialists, who campaigned in favor of joining a Russia-led economic bloc rather than moving toward the European Union, took the edge off any jubilation by the pro-Europe lobby.

Socialist leader Igor Dodon said his party would form an oppositon that would make “the European integrationists shake with fear.”

The socialists’ first place position with a vote of 21.5 percent showed that many in one of Europe’s smallest and poorest countries favor preserving traditional close ties with Russia.

“The main good news is that Moldova will continue its course toward Europe,” former Parliament speaker Marian Lupu, leader of the Democratic Party and a main figures in a three-party coalition that has governed since 2009, said in a news conference.

“The wish of the people to live in peace and integrate with the EU is a basic fundamental for negotiations for a new coalition,” Lupu said.