Wednesday, 16 September 2009
Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin announced on Friday that he was resigning after the defeat of his Communist Party in elections. By doing so he ended its eight-year rule of Europe's poorest country. Voronin said, "I hand over power to the hands of the new authorities with a heavy heart."
A coalition of pro-European parties won a parliamentary election in July and has enough seats to form a government but not to elect a president, which could lead to the continuation of a months-long political deadlock in Moldova. Under the Constitution, Voronin, in power since 2001, cannot run for a third consecutive term and the speaker of Parliament, Mihai Ghimpu, will be the acting president until a successor is chosen.
The end of the communist regime leaves tiny Moldova at a crossroads between closer integration with the neighboring European Union or maintaining ties with former Soviet master, Russia, which is provider of loans and energy supplies.
The new leadership will have to battle a deep economic crisis in the country of 4.3 million which has borders with EU-members Romania and Ukraine.
Parliament has two months to choose a new president, though it must first form a government and fill other posts. On the other hand, Moldova's Communist Party says it could agree to vote for a presidential candidate proposed by the four pro-Western parties if they adhere to the Communists' social program and don't pursue NATO membership. The four parties, which are grouped together in the Alliance for European Integration (AIE), have held a majority of seats in Moldova's new parliament since the July 29 parliamentary elections and are set to form a government.
