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New prime minister to be named in Moldova

CHISINAU, July 23. /TASS/. Leaders of Moldova’s three political parties - the Liberal Democratic, the Democratic and the Liberal - are expected to name a candidate for the post of Prime Minister to the national President, Nicolae Timofti, and to sign an agreement on setting up a new pro-European ruling coalition on Thursday, the heads of the parties told reporters on Wednesday.

"Our party insisted that I should take the post but we decided to name a different candidate after long debates so as to avoid speculations," the former Prime Minister, Vlad Filat, who stands at the head of the Liberal Democratic Party, said.

The Liberal Democratic Party and the Democratic Party will get six ministerial portfolios in the new government each while the Liberals will get four portfolios.

"We’ve finally coordinated an agreement on the ruling coalition, have completed the sharing of ministerial positions among the three parties and have discussed the candidacies for governing posts, including the Prime Minister," Democratic Party leader Marian Lupu said.

He voiced the confidence that talks with President Timofti would be held on Thursday and the latter man would sign a decree on nominating a candidate for the prime-ministerial position on Friday.

On Wednesday, the leaders of the three parties agreed to revive Alianta pentru Integrare Europeana (the Alliance for European Integration) that will be a third one over the past five years. Talks on forming it have been held for about a month against the background of a resounding scandal over the embezzling about a billion U.S. dollars from Moldovan banks, which took place during the rule of previous cabinets formed by the pro-European parties.

The scandal brought about the resignation of Prime Minister Chiril Gaburici on June 12.

Leaders of the three parties also agreed on holding a referendum this autumn on changes in the Constitution regarding election of the President. At the moment, Moldova is the only parliamentary republic in the CIS where the President is elected by parliamentary deputies.

To elect a president, a total of 61 votes in the 101-seat parliament are needed.

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