Elections set for Nov.21

Early parliamentary elections will be held on November 21, under an agreement reached by the ruling four-party Alliance for European Integration, Info-Prim Neo reports. The news was announced by Democrat leader Marian Lupu on Wednesday, September 8, after the Alliance's meeting. “This will allow the current Parliament to stay active for at least two more weeks, during which it could adopt a number of social and economic laws which could ease the situation in Moldova, considering that there will be two months of campaigning”, said Lupu. Speaking about the duration of the election campaign, Lupu said it would be kept unchanged at 60 days, despite the Liberal-Democrats' initial intention to halve it. Lupu went on to add that the Alliance discussed the opportunity of forming a joint campaign staff for these elections. “The final decision should be made based on rational arguments and not on emotions and heated debates”. However, Lib-Dem leader Vlad Filat told reports at the end of the meeting that his party would participate separately in the elections. On November 21, when the Alliance proposes to hold the elections, a great part of the Moldovans traditionally celebrate the feast of Archangels Michael and Gabriel.