The Communist party (PCRM) will not support Marian Lupu, the candidate of the pro-European parties who together won the early elections held on 29 July, a PCRM leader told the Russian daily Kommersant on Monday.
Vladimir Ţurcan, one of the leaders of the Communist party, said Lupu was a ‘traitor’ promoting a ‘radical nationalist policy’.
Even before the elections, leading Western analysts viewed Democratic Party leader Lupu - a former communist who established his own opposition party following a political conflict with communist leader Vladimir Voronin - as a ‘kingmaker’ (EurActiv 28/07/09).
According to press reports, the four pro-European parties, who have 53 MPs in the 101-seat parliament -- enough to form a government but too few to vote through their choice of president – have agreed on Lupu as their presidential candidate. To achieve this, they would require the support of at least eight communist MEPs.
The Liberal Democratic, Liberal and Democratic parties and Our Moldova Alliance have formed an “Alliance for European Integration”, trying to pull Moldova out of months-long political stalemate as economic crisis hits the small nation.
The first sitting of parliament, expected to be on Aug. 28, will kick-start the procedure for forming a new government and electing a president to replace the communist leader Vladimir Voronin, who cannot stand for a third consecutive term.
The leaders of the “Alliance for European Integration” have also reportedly agreed on other top job appointments in the country, with Liberal Democratic party leader Vlad Filat favoured as the next speaker of Parliament and Liberal party leader Mihai Ghimpu being touted as prime minister.
Doom strategies
In recent days, the press reported that the communists may end up supporting Lupu, as they fear another early poll would be detrimental for them. According to the country’s constitution, two early elections cannot be conducted during the same year, and a next early poll could take place only in early 2010.
But the statements by Vladimir Ţurcan appear to indicate that the Communists have now changed strategies, anticipating that the future reformist government would suffer a punitive vote in an early 2010 election, following a winter period of economic hardship for Moldova’s citizens. Similar developments took place in several Eastern European countries in the difficult early years of their transition to free-market capitalism, bringing back former Communists to power.
“PCRM has announced that it would retract into a strong opposition, which would, under the conditions of the economic crisis, give it an advantage in the political struggle,” the communist leader is quoted as saying.
Western analysts expect the country’s economy to shrink by 9 percent as remittances fall, with many experts also arguing that the country badly needs an IMF loan. Also, the situation in Moldova could be further destabilised by developments in the breakaway Transdniestria region, a ‘frozen conflict’ where Russia has a military contingent.
