CHISINAU, December 13. /TASS/. The majority of Moldovan lawmakers did not support the vote of no confidence to the government of Dorin Recean initiated by the opposition Bloc of Communists and Socialists, with only 18 out of 73 deputies voting in favor at the session, according to a broadcast on the website of the parliament's press service.
"The vote of no confidence did not garner the necessary number of votes. The government has the support of the parliament," Chairman Igor Grosu said.
The opposition accused the government of incompetence over the uncertainty of gas and electricity supplies. They pointed out that Ukraine's plans to stop the transit of Russian gas had been known for a long time, but the authorities' unpreparedness for the crisis only became known now. It turned out that the country would not be able to replace the supplies of electricity produced from Russian gas at the Moldavskaya power plant in Transnistria. A humanitarian disaster is looming on the left bank of the Dniester River, as domestic consumers and industry in Transnistria are completely dependent on supplies of cheap gas from Russia.
Recean was summoned to parliament to report back, but instead his speech focused mainly on criticizing the Moldovan opposition, Russia and Gazprom, which he blamed for the crisis. A similar no-confidence vote against Recean's cabinet was initiated by the Bloc of Communists and Socialists last year and failed because the Party of Action and Solidarity, which formed the government, controls the parliamentary majority.