TIRASPOL, December 12. /TASS/. Speaker of regional legislature of Moldova’s independence-minded Transdniestria region (also known as the unrecognized Dniester Republic) Vadim Krasnoselski has a clear lead in Sunday’s presidential election, a spokesperson for his electoral staff told TASS.

The staff is holding a parallel count of ballots.

"The data we received after the counting of 60% of ballots confirms the results from exit polls taken by VCIOM (the All-Russia Public Opinion Research Center), which showed our candidate was winning already in the first round," said Lydia Kolodka, the spokesperson said.

She indicated that Krasnoselski’s supporters would wait for the release of the official data.

Earlier reports quoted VCIOM information suggesting as many as 69.8% voters had voted for the legislature speaker while the incumbent regional President, Yevgeny Shevchuk, had received 18.8% votes.

To win in the first round, a candidate needs to get 50% plus one vote.

Preliminary data indicates the voter turnout at the polls was 59.16%.