Moldova expressed concern on Monday about the large number of votes a "radical" right-wing party won in Sunday's presidential and parliamentary elections in Romania.

"The fact that the Great Romania party, which holds radical views, garnered an impressive number of votes in the parliamentary elections gives rise to concern," the Moldovan president's spokesman said. The party's presence in government "could constitute an obstacle to both the process of Romania's European integration and the development of its relations with neighboring states, including Moldova."

Corneliu Vadim Tudor, leader of the far rightist Romania Mare (Great Romania) party, is set to go head-to-head with Social Democratic leader Ion Iliescu, a former president, in the presidential runoff round. Iliescu won 34% and Tudor 27% of the Sunday vote.

The two parties won similar proportions of votes in elections for both houses of parliament.

The Moldovan president's spokesman, Anatol Golea, hinted at a briefing in Chisinau that Moldovan-Romanian relations could take a sharp turn for the worse if Tudor becomes president. Tudor's party, Golea said, "openly makes territorial claims on Moldova and Ukraine, and the presidential candidate issued a number of harsh anti-Semitic attacks and criticized national minorities living in Romania."

"The time has come to govern Romania with the help of the automatic rifle," Golea quoted Tudor as saying, expressing the hope that Tudor comes out the loser in the next round.

"Iliescu is an experienced politician who would be able to consolidate the electorate and, together with other political forces, the Social Democracy Party would form a government capable of continuing the political and economic reforms," the spokesman said.

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