ROMANIA'S opposition soundly won yesterday's parliamentary elections and should be able to form a government, breaking a seven year stranglehold on power by former communists under President Ion Iliescu, exit polls showed.
Both state and private television surveys showed the Democratic Convention bloc led by Mr Emil Constantinescu well ahead with around 35 per cent, pushing the scandal ridden leftist Party of Social Democracy down to some 25 per cent support.
If the results of the exit polls are confirmed by official results which should begin to trickle in late today, it will mark a sea change in the Romanian political scene. Romania is the only eastern European country where the anti communist opposition has not yet had a spell in power.
Mr Constantinescu welcomed the polls, but cautioned his followers to wait for the official count and brace themselves for tough coalition bargaining ahead.
The CDR will need the support of the Social Democratic Party and either liberal or Hungarian minority groups. Mr Iliescu, if he wins the presidential race, laces working with a hostile assembly demanding policy change.
In Sofia, a convincing opposition win in Bulgaria's presidential election prompted the chastened, formerly communist government to pledge a thorough policy review.
Although the president has few powers and the Socialist Party will remain in government, the Prime Minister, Mr Zhan Videnov, said the party must take note of the electorate's strong message of disapproval.
Mr Videnov called the victory of the opposition Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) in the run off for the presidency "an impressive win" and congratulated its candidate. Mr Petar Stoyanov (44), a lawyer.
With a third of polling station returns counted, official results showed Mr Stoyanov leading with 61.21 per cent of the vote to 38.79 per cent for the Socialist Culture Minister, Mr Ivan Marazov.
In Yugoslavia, the Socialist Party (SPS) machine run by President Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia looked set to defeat a fragmented alliance of liberals and nationalists, after a campaign in which the opposition was virtually ignored by the state media.