Communists renounce cooperation with governing alliance

The opposition Party of Communists (PCRM) said in a press statement today it was breaking every relation with the governing Alliance for European Integration and was withdrawing all the initiatives on building a “constructive partnership”, including intentions concerning the amendment of the Constitution, Info-Prim Neo reports. According to the PCRM, the referendum for the amendment of the Constitution is an “instrument to fool people”, a way of avoiding early legislative elections and remaining in government for an unlimited period of time. “This complicated scheme with the referendum and the subsequent presidential poll pursues just one goal: to mislead voters, to deceive and disappoint them and, eventually, to renounce holding early parliamentary elections”, the communique says. Commenting on the statement by Speaker Mihai Ghimpu that he would dissolve Parliament only after the referendum, the PCRM has said this indicates that the current government is set to “definitively liquidate the remains of the Moldovan democracy and break the constitutional foundations of the state”. Democrat Party leader Marian Lupu said today that the PCRM's stated intention to cooperate for a consensus on constitutional amendments was a fake. “We can see now that their intention stated a week ago has been a dangerous game”, said Marian Lupu. Deputy Speaker Serafim Urecheanu, the leader of the Moldova Noastra Alliance Party, said he was the sole party within the governing alliance who accepted a potential dialogue with the PCRM. “However, Voronin is that kind of politician you just cannot find common language with”, complained Urecheanu. Speaker Mihai Ghimpu, who is concurrently the acting president, stated on Wednesday, June 16 – a year after the dissolution of the previous parliament – he would sign the decree to end the current parliament only after the constitutional referendum in September.