Moldavië maakt zich op voor cruciale verkiezingen (en)
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The Moldovan Parliament on Monday (7 December) is set to make a renewed attempt to elect the country's president. Failure to do so would trigger early elections next year and alarm international lenders and the EU, says Marian Lupu, the only candidate for the job.
"I am the only contender because the Communist Party decided not to put forward a counter-candidate. But this is not against Moldovan law," Mr Lupu told this website last week, while in Brussels for a series of meetings with EU officials.
The seasoned politician of 43 years is a former Communist turned Democrat whose party was the king-maker grouping in the new legislature, formed after violent protests and a repeat of frauded general elections earlier this year.
The three other Liberal parties in the "Alliance for European Integration" need eight votes from the Communist camp in order to elect him as head of state. Mr Lupu sees himself as a "mediator" between the left and right, in a country where political divisions run deep, especially after the April events which saw a brutal crackdown on opposition protests.
Vladimir Voronin, the Communist leader and former president since 2001, is determined to boycott the vote, hoping that early elections in the fall of next year would undermine the Alliance's governance and boost his chances of a return to power.
Mr Voronin already did that once, on 10 November, when the Communists walked out of the ballot. Since then, at least two of his party members have indicated they will vote for Mr Lupu.
The pair fears the country would go bankrupt if it fails to secure a €400,000 loan from the International Monetary Fund in January. Mr Lupu says the time has come for responsibility in the poverty-stricken country, where economic and political reforms have lagged for decades.
"If we fail to elect the president, there will be continued political crisis and 2010 will be a missed year for Moldova. All the parties' attention would focus on the early elections in October-November. A lot of populism, no progress. And not even the Alliance would be really motivated to implement the IMF and EU requirements," he said.
Unlike his coalition colleagues, who are openly pro-Western, Mr Lupu has also pledged a continued "strategic partnership" with Russia. Moldova is entirely dependent on Russian gas and contends with a so-called frozen conflict with its separatist region of Transnistria, which has been governed by a Moscow-backed leadership and houses Russian troops after a bloody conflict in the early 90s.
Moldova has a neutrality policy enshrined in its constitution, something Mr Lupu insists should not be changed, for instance, in view of applying for Nato membership.
Instead, the presidential contender says politicians should focus on internal reforms and on allowing the judiciary to fight corruption and crime without political interference.
As for relations with the EU, Mr Lupu says his country is "very little known in Brussels" but that this should change once Chisinau has a president in charge of foreign policy and attracting foreign investment. A new EU-Moldova partnership agreement is to be negotiated from January onward, with Moldovan officials hopeful that future EU membership remains on the cards.