According to the Infotag news agency, the four political parties, all in the opposition prior to a July 29 national parliament vote, are led by the Liberal Party and the Liberal Democratic Party, and collectively control 53 seats in the former Soviet republic's 101-member parliament.

Moldova's Communist Party had held a majority in the national legislature for more than a decade, but was soundly defeated by the pro-Europe opposition in the July poll.

Infotag is reporting that the new coalition will be called "For European Integration" (FEI), and that leaders of the alliance have named fighting corruption, better relations with the EU, a free and open media, and pulling Moldova's economy out of a deep recession as top priorities.

Discussions on cabinet post division between the two Liberal parties and the smaller Democratic Party of Moldova, and Our Moldova Party, were still in progress, according to a FEI statement. A top order of business will be election of a new President, requiring a 61-vote majority in the legislature by constitutional stature; forcing the FEI parties to seek at least 8 Communist MPs to support a FEI candidate for the Presidency.

Current Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin, who is also head of Moldova's Communist Party, said in a statement last week the Communists "were willing to talk" with the FEI alliance on a jointly- acceptable Presidential candidate.

Rioting in the streets

Unwillingness by FEI parties to accept a Communist candidate for President in the wake of April elections produced a hung parliament, forcing new elections in July.

The April elections also sparked mass protests against results giving the Communists a strong win, and near total control of parliament. Street battles between anti-Communist demonstrators and police in the Moldovan capital Chisinau left one dead, hundreds injured, and the parliament and presidential residence badly damaged by fire.

EU officials shortly after the repeat vote in late July called on the pro- and anti-Communist wings of Moldova's political arena to lay aside their differences, and form a new ruling coalition.

"The immediate priority is to put in place a government, and I urge all the political parties to engage in open and constructive dialogue," EU Foreign Affairs Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said last week.

Moldova may not hold any more parliamentary elections in 2009, but the nation's Supreme Court ruled in July that if the legislature fails to elect a President by January 2010 another nation-wide vote to select MPs - the third in ten months - would be possible.

mrm/dpa/AFP
Editor: Andreas Illmer