Chisinau - Moldova's parliament on Tuesday failed to elect a new president, prolonging a constitutional crisis in the country. A total of 53 MPs in Moldova's 101-seat parliament voted in favour of Marian Lupu, a candidate put forward by a centre-right ruling coalition that came to power after elections this past July.
Under Moldvan law, a minimum of 61 votes is necessary to elect a new president.
Moldova's opposition Communist Party, holding the balance of 48 seats in parliament, boycotted the showdown vote.
Economic reform measures planned by the ruling coalition threatened the welfare of lower income Moldovans, Communist officials charged.
"We will not participate in this farce," said Maria Posoico, a Communist Party spokeswoman. "(The ruling coalition's) programmes are anti-social."
A repeat attempt to elect a president must occur within 30 days of an initial unsuccessful vote. A second attempt to elect the president is now scheduled for December 10.
If parliament is unable to elect a president in two tries, immediate new elections - by some interpretations of Moldova's constitution - are mandatory.
A stand-off between pro-Europe and pro-Russia forces has long split Moldovan politics. Upon coming to power in July, leaders of the ruling coalition promised renewed efforts to reach out to and cooperate with Communists, now in opposition after 10 years in control of the parliament and the presidency.
"There is no way we could cooperate with them (the ruling coalition)," Posoico said. "What they are doing now is nothing less than an usurpation of power."
Moldovan constitutional statute is contradictory on the procedure for naming a new president if parliament is divided. The statute mandates new parliamentary elections if the legislature cannot select a president after trying twice, and at the same time, it bans parliamentary election for one calendar year after the last parliamentary elections.
Moldova's voters saw a pair of parliamentary elections in 2009: an April Communist win, allegedly abetted my massive vote fraud, the results of which were overturned by subsequent mass protests, and repeat elections in July, narrowly won by the centre-right ruling coalition.
Ruling coalition spokesman Oleg Serebrian on Tuesday hinted that the government intended to prepare the ground for an autumn 2010 election, saying in a speech to parliament, "The 2010 election will be very different from the 2009 vote ... We have created democratic conditions."
