Moldovan parliament fails to elect a President
Tue 10 Nov 2009
Today the Moldovan parliament held a scheduled vote to attempt to elect the country’s next President. The only Presidential candidate, Marian Lupu (Democratic Party) received all 53 votes from the Alliance for European Integration (AEI) MPs, a bloc representing democratic parties previously in the opposition . However, 61 out of the 101 votes are needed to be elected. The Communist Party, in opposition since the July 29th early parliamentary elections, refused to provide the 8 missing votes for a candidate that left its ranks before the elections and is considered a ‘traitor’ by many Communists.
The Communists’ reaction did not come unexpected, as on the previous day the Central Commission of the party obliged the Communist fraction to not only not vote for Lupu, but to not take part in the voting procedure at all. Communist MP consequently left the parliament before the vote and did not participate.
According to Moldovan law repeat elections have to now take place within a 30-day period. The next try is speculatively expected to take place on December 10th. The same candidate will be allowed to participate along with possible others. A candidate can be brought forward by a group of at least 15 MPs.
If the parliament fails to elect a President during the repeat elections, the interim-President, parliamentary chair Mihai Gimpu, will be obliged to disperse the parliament and declare the date of early parliamentary elections. However, following recent amendments to the election law, a parliament may only be dispersed after one year counting from the last dispersal, i.e. not until June 16th, 2010. Taking into consideration election campaigns that have to have at least 45 days, the next elections in this scenario may only take place in fall 2010.
Source: ww.infotag.md
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