Eurasia Press & News
Parliament in Chisinau has set December 16 as the date for new presidential elections.
In its second attempt in less than a month to pick a president, Moldova’s parliament has scheduled presidential elections for December 16.
Last month, no political parties put forward a candidate, so the elections had to be delayed.
The election, which is held by parliament and not by direct popular vote, was intended to end a political deadlock that has kept the small republic without a full-time president for two years.
Moldova has been without a head of state since September 2009, following a series of events that began in April that year when violent protests erupted in the capital Chisinau after the Communists won a parliamentary election.
The protests led to a snap election in December 2009, which a three-party ruling Alliance for European Integration, AIE, won.
Electing a president requres the support of at least 61 of the 101 deputies. But parliament is neatly divided between the Communists and the Alliance for European Integration, and neither side has been able to get the required majority. The Alliance has been two votes short of the 61 it needs to secure the presidential post.
