Democrats in City Council say coalition agreement not valid anymore

The city councillors on behalf of the Democratic Party claim that under the current circumstances the existence of a majority coalition in the City Council is seriously in question. Alexandru Tanase, the leader of the democrats in the Council, stated at the beginning of today’s meeting that the local councillors were attributed the role of “supporting actors” in the scenario that aims to elect the president of the Liberal Party Mihai Ghimpu as chairman of the Council. “We will not tolerate the situation where Ghimpu’s obsession to get that post is veiled behind anticommunist declarations and empty promises to change things for the better”, Tanase said. “After three failed meetings there’s nothing else left than the certainty that the agreement between the four parties doesn’t exist anymore”, Tanase said. He suggested that the mayor should urgently initiate talks with all the factions and independent councillors that wish to get involved in resolving the problems of the city. “It is crucial that, within a permanent and constructive dialogue, the partners agree upon an action plan for the next four years, and then to discuss the sharing of obligations. If this doesn’t happen, the DP faction will see itself obliged to establish the fact of death of the signed agreement”, Tanase added. Pavel Caba, the leader of the Moldova Noastra Alliance stated that the situation in the city is very concerning. He suggested that the candidates for deputy mayors and district heads are put forward and the election of the CMC chair be postponed until the adoption of the Law on the status of Chisinau City. Oleg Cernei, a councillor from the same faction, says it was a mistake to let the party leaders form the coalition all by themselves, without asking the opinion of all the councillors. Cernei proposed to start forming the coalition anew, taking into account the example of the year 2003 when the councillors formed “the Democratic Chisinau”. “The councillors entered the Council on party lists, but represented the interests of the Chisinau residents”, Cernei explained. Alexandru Corduneanu, the leader of the Christian-democrats in the Council, says the political dialogue between the component parts of the CMC is hindered by some arguments within parties, ambitions maybe, but this body must be functional, and not just pretend to be working. Corduneanu believes that by the end of the month the Council will manage to elect the administration of the capital. Other councillors also condemned the fact that the CMC has failed to elect its chairman and the four the deputy mayors while the capital city is experiencing a series of problems. Councillor Valeri Climenko accused Mihai Ghimpu of insufficient professional grounding, and stated that he cannot be elected as chairman. Mihai Ghimpu said for his part that the Liberal Party has unconditionally backed the democratic parties in the local elections, but in Chisinau the situation seems to be different. “The councillors do represent the voters, but they got their seats thanks to party lists, therefore they have to take into account the decisions of their party”, Ghimpu said. He urged the councillors to cast aside their personal ambitions and start thinking about the interests of the voters, who, after a period of 15 years, turned their faces to the democratic forces and who could lose their trust in them. The majority coalition in the City Council was formed in late June by the leaders of the Liberal Party, the Moldova Noastra Alliance, the Christian-Democrat People’s party and the Democratic Party. The coalition includes 26 councillors, the minimum number required to form a majority council. So far, the coalition has failed to elect the CMC chairman and the administration of the City Hall because of at least an absent councillor at every meeting.