Moldovan Communists conditioned cooperation with new coalition
Communist MPs could participate in the election of the country's new president only if the new parliamentary coalition meets a number of conditions, Moldova's former president and the leader of the Communist Party, Vladimir Voronin, has told a news conference at the Communist Party's headquarters on Sept. 15.
The parliamentary coalition called the Alliance for European Integration holds 53 out of 101 seats in the newly-elected parliament and is short of eight votes to elect the president on its own.
At the news conference, Voronin said that his Communist Party, which has gone into opposition, submitted two documents to parliament today.
"If the parliamentary majority is ready to back these documents, then we are ready to participate in the presidential election. The documents focus on two issues: measures to combat the ongoing economic crisis and measures to solve the conflict with the breakaway Dniester region," Voronin said.
Voronin said that in spite of the economic crisis the new authorities should not allow living standards to fall. They should increase salaries every two years, compensations and other social payments every year. The Communists also do not want them to raise the retirement age.
Speaking about the settlement of the Dniester conflict, Voronin said that the Communist Party proposes that the new ruling coalition "announce its intention to solve the problem by granting the Dniester region status of a republic within the Republic of Moldova".
"Dniester citizens' rights should be guaranteed," Voronin said. He said the second documents also contains such commitments as "to preserve Moldova's neutrality, not to join any military and political alliances and to preserve cooperation with the CIS".
"The Dniester region and Gagauzia should be granted a right to self-determination and a right to quit Moldova if the latter loses its status of a! n independent country and is no longer subject to international law," Voronin added.
He underlined that "if the parliamentary majority supports these documents, then the Communist Party can participate in the election of the president as the country does not need a new early parliamentary election".
If the Moldovan parliament fails to elect the country's new president, a new parliamentary election must be called in 2010.
"We are giving the new authorities a unique chance to overcome the political crisis, to elect the president and avoid an early election. Let's see what their reaction would be," Voronin said.
At the same time, the Communist Party leader said that his fellow deputies would not vote for the election of Democratic Party leader Marian Lupu for the post of president, although the Alliance for European Integration has already announced that Lupu will be its candidate for this post.
"I believe that the Central Committee of the Communist Party will not allow us, the party's MPs, to ! cast our votes for betrayers (the Communists regard Marian Lupu as a betrayer after he quit the Communist Party on 10 June to lead the Democratic Party - Infotag)," Voronin said.
He also underlined that if the parliamentary majority does not back the two documents tabled by the Communist Party "then the party will not nominate its candidate for the post of deputy speaker that the parliamentary majority left vacant for the Communist Party".
At the same time, Voronin believes that the most appropriate candidate for the post of president is former Prime Minister Zinaida Greciani.
"But this issue is yet to be debated and everything depends on their readiness to back our proposals. If the parliamentary majority is ready to back these documents, then we are ready to discuss a candidate for the post of president with the new authorities," Voronin said.
Voronin added that acting Foreign and European Integration Minister Andrei Stratan would be a good candidate for the post of prime minister.
In his view, the Communists' proposals "would ensure the continuity of power and would prevent the new authorities from committing some stupid things".
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