CHISINAU, February 16 (Itar-Tass) — On Thursday the Moldovan parliament will meet for the spring-summer session to try to elect the president of the country. A number of bills are expected to be discussed, including the documents on prevention measures and fight against organized crime, reform of the judicial system and other important bills, the press service of the legislative body told reporters.
On Wednesday, the leaders of the ruling coalition that comprises the Democratic, Liberal and Liberal Democratic Parties held negotiations over electing president. "We made a consolidated decision to elect the head of state who will not represent any political party. He must be supported by lawmakers of all the parties comprising the coalition and the group of the Socialists led by deputy Igor Dodon," interim President, parliament speaker Marian Lupu said.
The ruling coalition, which consists of the Liberal Democratic Party led by Vlad Filat, the Democratic Party led by Lupu and the Liberal Party has 59 votes in parliament, whereas electing the head of state requires 61 votes.
Another 39 mandates belong to the Communists who are now the Opposition. The Communists regard the parliament as illegitimate and boycott its sessions.
Moldovan lawmakers have been unable to elect their president for the third consecutive year. The protracted political crisis began in April 2009, when supporters of the Liberal Opposition, angry with the Communists' victory in the election, staged rallies, which escalated to violence and demolition of the parliament building and the presidential residence. The Opposition refused to vote for the candidate from the ruling party, which provoked the dissolution of the parliament. After the early election of 2009, a center-right coalition came to power and it was now the Communists who refused to support the coalition candidate - incumbent speaker Lupu. This resulted in another dissolution of the parliament and early election in November 2010, which did not change the setup of forces.
In November 2011, three lawmakers led by Dodon quit the Communist faction, which gave the coalition the needed votes for election of the president. But the talks with Dodon, who suggested electing a non-partisan candidate failed because of the contradictions between his political leaders who had fallen out in the past few years. If the incumbent parliament fails to elect the president at two attempts, Moldova will have the fourth early election over the course of the past three years.