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(UPDATED) With more than 87.7% of the votes counted, three parties backing integration with the European Union win about 44% of the vote, while pro-Russian groups has about 40%

DECIDING THE FUTURE. A Moldovan citizen holds a child as he casts his ballot at a polling station in the Moldovan embassy in Bucharest November 30, 2014. Daniel Mihailescu/AFP

CHISINAU, Moldova (2nd UPDATE) Pro-European parties in Moldova secured a narrow win Monday, December 1, over those backing closer ties with former master Russia in a parliamentary election held against the backdrop of the bloody conflict in neighboring Ukraine.

Three parties backing integration with the European Union together won about 44% in Sunday's (November 30) vote, seen as a litmus test for the aspirations of the impoverished and politically volatile country.

Pro-Russian parties were just behind with about 40%, according to partial results issued with 88% of the votes counted.

The three pro-European parties the Liberal Democrats, the Liberals and the Democrats have enough votes to form a coalition, gaining about 54-56 seats in the 101-member parliament against 45-47 for the pro-Moscow parties.

But their narrow win and differences among the three mean there could be tough bargaining ahead to form a government in the country, where Russia has troops in the breakaway pro-Kremlin region of Transdniestr.

Adding to the complexity of the situation, Mikhai Ghimpu, leader of the right-wing Liberal party which backs joining NATO, is seen as a tough negotiator.

Sunday's vote came with Russia and the European Union locked in a tug-of-war over the fate of Moldova as well as Ukraine, another former Soviet state where Moscow-backed separatists in the east have been fighting Kiev's rule since April.

'No future outside Europe'

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Pro-European parties narrowly win Moldova poll