New Moldova parliament elects pro-Europe speaker (Roundup)

Aug 28, 2009, 15:11 GMT

Chisinau - Moldova's parliament elected a leading pro-Europe politician as house speaker in the new ruling coalition's first show- down vote, the Infotag news agency reported Friday.

   Mihai Gimpu, leader of Moldova's Liberal Party, became the first member of Moldova's four-party ruling coalition to take office after parliament elections held in late July.

   'This is proof of changes in the country that voters were waiting for,' Gimpu said. 'I am confident that (the ruling coalition) will move Moldova dynamically on the path of integration into the family of European nations.'

   A total 53 MPs form a coalition now controlling the Moldovan legislature. All cast ballots in Gimpu's favour. He was the coalition's single nominee.

   The other 48 deputies in the 101-seat parliament, all Communist Party members, boycotted the poll and walked out of the legislature before the vote.

   Gimpu, 58, is well-known in Moldova as one of the former Soviet republic's leading advocates for integration with the European Union. The ruling coalition's formal name as announced in early August is the 'Alliance for European Integration.'

   Emotions in the run-up to the vote were high, with Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin, head of the Communist Party, allegedly swearing at Vlad Filat, head of the Liberal Democratic Party, over the pro-Europe coalition's announced intention of clearing out Communist-appointed officials from the government.

   'Screw you buddy! We'll deal with you by other means!' Voronin said to Filat during the televised parliament proceedings, Moldovan media reported.

   There was no immediate Communist Party comment on the incident, recounted in detail to Moldova reporters by Filat.

   Communist politicians led by Voronin in mid-August predicted the pro-Europe alliance would be unable to keep all of its MPs in ranks and hold a working majority - suggestions contradicted by party discipline in the coalition's first show-down vote on Friday.

   Alliance officials later in the day made public plans for two more top posts. It was announced at a Chisinau press conference that Marian Lipu, the Democratic Party chief, would be nominated as president, and Filat would be nominated as prime minister.

   To become prime minister, Filat needs majority support in parliament.

   Lipu's access to the more powerful presidential post is more difficult, as constitutional statute requires a Moldovan presidential candidate to amass 61 votes in parliament to be elected to office - eight fewer than the number of deputies the alliance currently controls.

   Moldova's last parliament hung and ultimately was dissolved in July because the then-ruling Communists were unable to assemble 61 votes needed for their own presidential nominee.

   Gimpu's Liberal Party, controlling 15 votes, is the second-largest member of Moldova's new ruling coalition.

   The other parties in the alliance are the Filat's Liberal Democratic Party (18 seats), the Democratic Party (13 seats) and the Our Alliance Moldova Party (7 seats).

   Filat and Gimpu at an August 8 press conference named as their top policy priorities EU integration, the elimination of state corruption, close relations between Romania and Moldova, and Moldova's eventual membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

   Voronin's Communists, in power from 2000 through July 2009, support strong economic ties between Moldova and Russia, Moldovan neutrality, and political distance from Romania.

   Parliamentary elections held in Moldova in April produced a Communist win at the polls. They ended in pitched street battles between police and protesters claiming massive vote fraud engineered by Voronin and his allies.

   One person died, more than 300 were injured, and the Parliament and Presidential Residence buildings were burned in the violence.