Election failure
June 3, 2009
Greceanii, the preferred presidential candidate of Moldova’s outgoing leader Vladimir Voronin, received 60 votes, one short of the 61 she would have needed to assume the presidency.
Three opposition parties, which together hold 41 seats in Moldova's 101-seat parliament, ignored Communist Party calls to cross party lines and endorse Greceanii's candidature.
Voronin, who cannot run for a third term as president himself, had hoped the election of fellow Communist Greceanii would enable him to hold on to power.
Hung parliament
Under the terms of the Moldovan constitution, if the sitting president fails to select his replacement twice in a row, he is bound to declare a hung parliament. Voronin, who is also leader of the Communist Party, said he recognized that there were now "circumstances for dissolving parliament."
The constitution calls for new elections to be held within 45 days of the official dissolution of parliament.
In recent months, opposition leaders have repeatedly accused Voronin of tampering with the results of April parliamentary elections, in which the Communist Party secured 60 seats in the legislature.
The ballot, which Voronin denies fixing, sparked violent demonstrations in which one person was killed and some 300 were injured.
tkw/dpa/reuters
Editor: Sonia Phalnikar