Social Liberals call for moratorium on inter-opposition rivalries

The Social Liberal Party (PSL) is urging opposition parties to set up a one-year moratorium in an effort to end disputes between them. PSL leader Oleg Serebrian told a news conference today that the Communist Party (PCRM) jubilates whenever the opposition loses positions because of the never-ceasing misunderstandings. Serebrian brought the example of the elections for district council held in Rezina on November 11, where the Communists, who polled less than half of the valid votes, got 18 out of 33 seats in the Council. Elections in that district were rerun because the non-communist parties failed to reach an agreement and appoint the heads of the district bureaucracy, said the PSL leader, hinting at the Moldova Noastra Alliance Party, which strove for the chairmanship of the council. Serebrian also blamed the victory of the ruling party on the atomisation of the democratic forces, given that the number of participating parties rose from 7 in this summer’s general local elections to 15 on November 11. Only five of them made it to the Council. Thus, PCRM got an extra ten thousand votes, which represent two more councillor’s seats. The Social Liberal leader termed as suspicious the fact that some 10 percent of the votes for PCRM were obtained from mobile ballot boxes in the localities headed by Communist mayors. PSL will file a complaint with the Central Election Commission, even though this will represent just an act of taking a stance against this fact, since the Election Commission has already declared the polls in Rezina as valid. PSL counts that the opposition leaders will join forces to revive the commitments assumed this summer and sign a joint programme for the 21 districts that formed majority councils, Oleg Serebrian concluded. The re-run elections in Rezina brought PSL 6 seats in the Council.