Moldova stalemate means new poll

MOLDOVA’S COMMUNIST prime minister failed by one vote to become president yesterday, setting the scene for a fresh general election just two months after riots and allegations of fraud marred the last one.

Opposition groups accused outgoing president Vladimir Voronin and his communist allies of rigging the April election, and refused to approve premier Zinaida Greceanii as his successor, leaving her with 60 – rather than the required 61 – votes in the 101-seat parliament.

Dozens of people were injured when protesters stormed government buildings, set offices alight and clashed with riot police after the last election, in violence that Mr Voronin said was stoked by Romanian secret agents.

Mr Voronin, who has sought to balance his impoverished country’s ties between the European Union and Russia, is barred from standing for a third term, and hoped to retain influence as parliamentary speaker with a compliant Ms Greceanii as head of state.

After parliament failed in two attempts to appoint a new president, Mr Voronin is constitutionally obliged to call a general election, amid fears that tensions in a country wedged between Ukraine and EU member Romania could again erupt into violence.

Mr Voronin said he would ask parliament to reappoint the current government on June 10th. Once a government was approved, he would issue a decree calling for early elections. According to the constitution, the election must be held 45 days after the president signs a decree dissolving parliament. “The conditions for dissolving parliament now exist,” Mr Voronin said, before accusing the opposition of destabilising the country and vowing that the communists would win “80 per cent” of votes in the next election.

Ms Greceanii said opposition MPs had acted according to “personal ambition” in voting against her and complained that a snap election would harm “Moldova and her citizens”.

Opposition leaders were unrepentant. One, Vlad Filat, said: “We cannot accept the illegal actions taken by the communists in recent months and the eight years they have been in power.”