Moldova's acting president dissolves parliament, sets new elections

Sep 28, 2010, 14:46 GMT

Chisinau/Kiev - Moldova's acting president on Tuesday dissolved a hung parliament and set new elections for late November.

The announcement of new parliamentary elections by acting president Mihai Ghimpu came three weeks after Moldova's ruling coalition failed to obtain sufficient support for a constitutional amendment, according to which the president would be elected by a national vote rather than by the legislature.

Voters in the former Soviet republic will go to polls on November 28 to choose a new parliament, whose long-running failure to elect a president had been cited by coalition politicians as the reason to change the constitution, the Infotag news agency reported.

The coming parliamentary election will be the fourth national vote held in Moldova in 18 months.

Moldovan voter fatigue was clear in early September, when a national referendum drew a turnout of 29.05 per cent, below the minimum one-third of registered voters required for a constitutional referendum.

A controversial April 2009 parliamentary election in Moldova led to riots. A four-party coalition supporting European integration and opposing Moldova's Communists, came to power in October 2009.

Moldova's chief executive is selected by a minimum 61-member majority in the 101-seat legislature. Moldova's Communist party currently controls 48 seats and since October has as blocked all attempts by the ruling coalition, which holds only 53 seats, to elect a president.

The impasse has stalled legislation and left Moldova in a constitutional crisis.