Vlad Filat, the president of the Liberal-Democratic Party (PLDM), and Serafim Urechean, the leader of the Our Moldova Alliance (AMN), announced on Monday, March 14, their intention to unite their parties, with a final decision to be announced in 3 weeks the latest, Info-Prim Neo reports. The move comes ahead of the general local elections slated for the end of this spring. “This decision demonstrates PLDM's and AMN's political maturity and is in line with the endeavor to consolidate the political parties in Moldova so that we can offer our country strong, functional parties that act in the interests of our citizens”, Vlad Filat told a news conference held jointly with Serafim Urechean. The merger agreement is to be drafted by the end of this week and in three weeks the latest each party will hold its national assembly to give the formal consent. “This was not an easy decision. It's not easy making a decision to dissolve a party which played a truly important role in the Moldovan politics. I thank and congratulate Mr. Urechean for this example which I hope will be followed by others as well”, said the Lib-Dem leader. Serafim Urechean stated for his part that the reason why both parties decided to merge was that they shared the same political views and had the same concern about the consolidation of the democratic forces in Moldova. Urechean also mentioned electoral reasons. “In the 2011 local elections and in the parliamentary elections, the decisive struggle will be fought between the Liberal-Democratic Party and the Communists Party. So the team of the Our Moldova Alliance decided to join PLDM and consolidate the democratic forces”. Asked about their joint electoral plans, Vlad Filat said talks on the issue haven't started yet and no joint candidate has been found to run for Chisinau's mayor. In the latest parliamentary elections on 28 November 2010, AMN polled just 2.05%, half of the threshold required to win legislative seats. With 74 out of 114 votes, AMN's governing body on Sunday voted for a merger with PLDM.