Report: Moldova Communists and Democrats to form coalition (Roundup)

Dec 8, 2010, 17:46 GMT

Chisinau/Kiev/Brussels - Moldova's Communist and Democratic parties are to form a ruling coalition that will force pro-Europe parties into the opposition, according to a Wednesday news report.

Vladimir Voronin, leader of the Communist Party, and Marian Lupu, head of the centre-left Democratic Party, have already agreed to join forces in parliament, the news website strieazilei.md reported.

The website is independent and one of Moldova's most popular news sources.

The Communist-Democrat agreement will give the presidential office to Lupu, the powerful parliament speaker job will go to Voronin, according to the report.

Other government offices will reportedly be shared between the two parties with Communist nominees receiving 70 per cent of appointments and the Democrats 30 per cent.

Voronin and Lupu met for an initial round of coalition talks on Tuesday. Both later told reporters their two parties' political priorities were nearly identical, but denied they had already agreed to a formal alliance.

Lupu on Wednesday declined to confirm the web report of a completed deal with the Communists, saying 'The Democratic Party is giving all (coalition) offers full attention, weighing every step ... the Communist Party is not the only possible party for forming a ruling coalition.'

The Democratic party would join in a ruling coalition 'best serving the interests of the nation,' Lupu said, in comments reported by Infotag.

Voronin's pro-Russia Communists are on track to control 42 seats in the 101-member legislature, and Lupu's Democrats 15 seats, according to the results of a November 28 parliamentary vote.

Were the two parties to form a ruling coalition, Moldova's two largest pro-Europe parties, the Liberals and Liberal Democrats, would be in opposition with a collective 44 parliamentary seats.

'We hope very much that the new government will continue the EU-related reforms that have been carried out in the last few months,' said Angela Filote, spokeswoman for EU neighbourhood policy commissioner Stefan Fule.

Moldova's recent parliamentary election and ongoing attempts in the country to form a ruling coalition have been closely watched internationally, with the Kremlin and Brussels both sending high-level officials to Moldova in the election's wake.

Sergei Naryshkin, chief of the Presidential Administration of Russia, was in Chisinau on Sunday on a working visit.

'Neither Moscow nor Brussels - who by the way don't have the right to do it - can create a coalition (in Moldova),' Lupu said. 'We are the ones doing it, it is our affair.'

Moldova has been locked in constitutional crisis for more than two years because parliament has been unable to assemble the needed 61 votes to elect a new president, forcing repeated elections.

The November 28 vote was the third parliamentary election in 18 months. Legislation passed by parliament cannot, by constitutional statute, become law without a presidential signature.

A Communist-Democrat alliance would by itself lack sufficient votes to elect a president and break the long-running deadlock.

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