Since May 2009, the Moldovan Parliament has been attempting to elect a president, without success. Parties in the Alliance for European Integration, the group currently in power, failed to obtain the required 61 out of 101 votes in the country’s single-chamber Parliament. The communists place the blame on the President of Parliament, Marian Lupu, and even demanded that he be held legally responsible. After repeatedly sabotaging presidential elections in the past years, the communists now proposed a surprise candidate – the former governor of the National Bank, Leonid Talmaci. A respected figure in Moldova, Talmaci could have obtained votes from pro-western sympathizers as well. Professor Dan Dungaciu, head of the Institute for Political Sciences and International Relations in the Romanian Academy, says this situation is due to a lack of trust between parties in the ruling Alliance. Uncertainty might persist, harming the country even more, according to Prof. Dungaciu.

“Life goes on in the Republic of Moldova, but this does not mean the country itself is moving forward. Moldova’s image has suffered significantly in the past two years. I’m afraid this state of affairs will continue to exist. The optimistic statements made by some members of the Alliance for European Integration do not comply with the actual facts. The Constitutional Court’s decision to annul the vote was one of the reasons why Marian Lupu withdrew from the second poll, scheduled for January 15th.”

The Romanian presidential counselor for strategic affairs, Iulian Chifu, believes that the election of a president is not as relevant as it might seem, and that Moldova is able to function optimally, even without a president.