Moldova's new parliament has agreed to elect its governing bodies during its second session on Thursday, a step preceding a presidential vote intended to put an end to a long-standing political crisis in the country.
The Moldovan parliament, elected in late November, held its first session on Wednesday.
During the session, Vladimir Voronin, whose Communist Party has the largest faction in the Chisinau-based legislature, expressed hope that the new parliament "will be able to reconcile and consolidate the Moldovan society, which has been hit by a political crisis for more than a year and a half."
Marian Lupu, who heads the Democratic Party, called on the lawmakers to give up their winter vacations in order to establish the parliament's governing bodies as soon as possible.
A parliamentary majority of 61 votes is needed to elect the country's president and end a stalemate that has left the impoverished ex-Soviet republic without a full-time president since mid-2009.
In early December, Moldovan Communists and Democrats agreed to create a center-left parliamentary majority of 57 votes. If created, the coalition will still need to secure support of at least 4 other lawmakers to elect the president.
Vadim Mishin, a Communist lawmaker involved in talks with the Democrats, said the there are no obstacles for the creation of the coalition.
"All consultations [on the creation of the coalition] were concluded today, all differences and ambiguities were completely eliminated," he said, adding that the final decision on the issue will be made on Thursday.
Voronin's Communist Party holds 42 seats in the 101-strong legislature, while Lupu's Democratic Party has 15 seats. The Liberal Democratic Party is the second largest in the parliament, with 32 seats, and the Liberal Party holds 12 mandates.
After the parliament elects its speaker and governing bodies, it will have to approve the dissolution of the republican government, appoint a new prime minister and order him to form a new government.
Moldovan acting president Mihai Ghimpu announced the dissolution of parliament on September 28. The move was in line with the Constitutional Court's September 21 ruling, which said that a failure to elect a president in two subsequent elections provided sufficient grounds for the dissolution of parliament.
The political crisis in Moldova deepened after the September 5 referendum on whether the head of the state should be elected by a direct popular vote. It was declared invalid due to a low turnout.
CHISINAU, December 30 (RIA Novosti)
