Parliament today formally endorsed the Eurointegration Alliance's decision to hold a repeat attempt to elect the President on 15 January 2012, Info-Prim Neo reports. The Communist faction insisted to know who was behind Marian Lupu's decision to withdraw from the race. “Before the sitting you held a press briefing where you stated that you will no longer run for President. Is this your personal decision, the Alliance's decision, or a maneuver to endlessly delay presidential elections?”, Communist MP Anatolie Zagorodnyi asked Marian Lupu. The Speaker stated that he explained his decision quite clearly and was inviting the Communists to join discussions to identify a compromise candidate. “Whether this is the Alliance's decision or mine personally, this is none of your business”, retorted Lupu. At the press briefing earlier today Lupu said he was not clinging to the presidential candidacy and was thus opening the path towards identifying a candidate that could collect the required 61 votes. At the election on December 16, the sole candidate Marian Lupu gathered 58 votes, with 3 votes against and one invalid ballot.