Moldova’s opposition demands parliament dissolution

"The current parliament should be dissolved and the date of the new election should be named," he said accusing the ruling coalition of usurpation of power.

The leader of the Communist Party held a news conference soon after it became known that the referendum on direct presidential vote initiated by the ruling coalition failed over low voter turnout (29.05 percent).

On Sunday, Moldova's Acting President and parliament speaker Mihai Ghimpu said he would dissolve the parliament after the central election commission officially recognized the September 5 referendum as invalid. Prime Minister Vlad Filat also subscribed to this point of view.

"The parliament should be dissolved and early election should take place. Within two days the leaders of the alliance should meet to decide, what further actions should be taken," he said.

The situation in Moldova remains unstable since last spring, when after the April parliamentary election the liberal-democratic opposition began protests accusing the Communists of forged election's results. Since then the parliament fails to elect the president, who needs 61 of the 101 parliamentary votes. Neither repeated election nor the change in the alignment of political forces improved the situation. Earlier parliamentarians from the Communist Party cast their ballots for the president, while the opposition boycotted the election, but after the July 2009 early election the roles changed, but the political situation still remains unstable.

To get out of the political crisis the leaders of the ruling Alliance for European Integration, which is represented by 53 parliamentary seats as against 44 seats of the Communists, initiated the referendum on the direct presidential vote and reduced the election threshold to one third.

However, the majority of the local population boycotted the referendum listening to the Communist Party's calls.