Lack of a quorum in Parliament

MOLDOVA

Lack of a quorum did not permit a plenary sitting of the Moldovan Parliament to take place today.

In the morning, only the Communist Party faction of 48 came to the session room, while all the 53 deputies of the governing Alliance for European Integration (AEI) ignored the event, claiming, “this is going to be a routine internal meeting of the MCP group”.

In their turn, the Communists regarded the today’s sitting as the continuation of the August 28 session, when they demanded a break until September 4 to form an MCP faction officially, and quitted the room when the democratic majority said no. In their absence, the democrats elected Liberal Party Chairman Mihai Ghimpu as Speaker of Parliament.

Last Wednesday, the democrats held one more plenary sitting, which the Communists ignored. And yesterday, the democratic majority set next plenary sitting for September 10.

MCP deputy Grigore Petrenco stated to journalists today the coalition’s behaviour was easily predictable, and his party comrade Vladimir Turcan said the Communists are waiting for a Constitutional Court decision concerning the legitimacy of Ghimpu’s election as Speaker. The Court will sit on September 8.

Communist Mark Tkachuk condemned the democrats’ actions, “who are taking parliament-related decisions in their party offices”.