CHISINAU, November 18 (Itar-Tass) —— The Moldovan parliament is yet to set a new date of the presidential election. The ballot planned for November 18 failed because no presidential candidates had been registered.
The ruling Alliance for European Integration repealed its earlier decision, which scheduled the election for Friday. Thereby the November 18 election will be not viewed as a failure.
The ad hoc presidential election commission presented its report to the parliament. The report said that the election was not held because of the absence of candidates, each of whom must have secured support of no less than 15 parliament deputies.
The Party of Communists demanded to hold the election on December 15, 30 days after the failure of the first election attempt. The majority did not support the initiative.
The Moldovan presidential election failed because of stubbornness of Liberal Party leader Mihai Ghimpu, Prime Minister and Liberal Democratic Party leader Vlad Filat said on Tuesday.
“Our negotiations with [Igor] Dodon constantly came into an impasse because of the hysterical outbreaks of Ghimpu. His accusations of Dodon undermined a chance for settlement,” Filat said.
Ghimpu said he would not support a single presidential candidate unless he was guaranteed the position of the parliament speaker, which, by the coalition agreement, goes to the Liberal Party in the case of Marian Lupu’s election for president.
Meanwhile, the opposition Party of Communists accused the ruling coalition leaders of usurpation of power and threatened with massive protests demanding their resignation.
“The ruling Alliance for European Integration and its associates have usurped power legally and morally. We will initiate massive protests to demand the resignation of this regime,” Party of Communists leader, ex-Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin said in comment on the Monday failure of the presidential election.
“The parliament must be dismissed unless a presidential election is organized within 30 days,” he said. The Party of Communists is ready to vote for a non-party candidate but it insists on the re-configuration of the government and will not vote for Zinaida Greceanii who left the Communist faction several days ago.
The ruling coalition and the Dodon Group, which seceded from the Party of Communists parliamentary group, failed to agree on a common presidential candidate on Monday. Neither side changed its stand: the ex-Communists proposed Greceanii for president, and the coalition stuck to its earlier candidate, Acting President, Democratic Party leader Marian Lupu.
“Bearing in mind the circumstances, it was decided not to nominate a candidate who would fail to gain support of 61 deputies needed for winning the presidential election. We must start the whole process anew. We still have time to reach an agreement,” Prime Minister, Liberal Democratic Party leader Vlad Filat said. He accused Liberal Party leader Mihai Ghimpu of the elections’ failure.
By law, the Moldovan president is elected at the parliament in two votes. If both votes fail, the parliament must be dismissed.
Three deputies of the Party of Communists – Igor Dodon, Greceanii and Veronica Abramciuc - withdrew from the party to elect the next president of Moldova together with the ruling coalition.
“We made that difficult decision for avoiding an early election and for leading the country out of the crisis. Our three votes will help elect the president,” Dodon said on November 4.
The deputies explained their move with “the obsolete mentality” of the administration of the Party of Communists and the existence of “covert groups” in the party’s decision-making mechanisms.
“Zinaida Greceanii and us have held a number of consultations abroad, including those in Brussels. Like I have said before, we have a good and constructive dialog with the East and the West,” Dodon said.
He stressed that they would not vote for Marian Lupu, the presidential candidate of the ruling Alliance for European Integration. “We will not help elect a candidate of the ruling coalition. I am prepared to vote only for a politically disengaged candidate,” Dodon said.
The Moldovan parliament has been unable to settle the protracted political crisis for two years. Following a series of early elections, the Party of Communists, which had ruled Moldova for eight years, found itself in opposition. The coalition Alliance for European Integration formed by the Liberal Democratic Party, the Democratic Party and the Liberal Party took the office.
The coalition has 59 parliament seats, and the communists have 42. The communists said they would not vote for coalition candidate Marian Lupu. It takes 61 out of 101 votes to elect the president.
The withdrawal of key communist deputies from the party caught by surprise its leader, ex-President Vladimir Voronin. “Shame on this country for solving the presidency problem this way and for playing dirty. These three, and not only them, have demeaned themselves,” he said.
By law, Moldova must elect a president in two attempts. If both attempts fail, the country will have its fourth early parliamentary election in two years.