New polls in deadlocked Moldova

Agence France-Presse

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Just 60 deputies voted for Prime Minister Zinaida Greceanii's candidacy, one short of the three-fifths needed for approval by the 101-seat chamber of the country, the poorest in Europe.

It was the second attempt by outgoing President Vladimir Voronin's Communist Party to get her candidacy approved, raising the spectre of prolonged political uncertainty. In a humiliating snub to Voronin, all opposition deputies boycotted the vote, walking out of the chamber.

"The conditions for dissolving parliament exist," Voronin acknowledged afterwards. Under the constitution, the second failure to choose a president means parliament must be dissolved and new elections called. The prospect of a prolonged standoff over the presidency has prompted concern on the part of the EU and Moldova's Soviet-era master Moscow. Opposition parties had sought new elections after alleging irregularities in parliamentary polls that were held in April. The April polls descended into rioting in the Moldovan capital, in which dozens of people were injured.

However, the opposition refused yesterday to heed a last-minute appeal by Greceanii, who rose through the state finance administration to her present post as premier.