President Vladimir Voronin is sceptical about the future of the majority coalition in the Chisinau Municipal Council and of the partnership between the Democratic Party (PD) and the Social-Liberal party (PSL), which announced their intention to merge at the start of the next year. During a televised programme last weekend, the head of state said that he is allergic to the word “coalition”. According to Voronin, the coalitions existing in Moldova did not manage to solve anything until present. Speaking about the coalition in the CMC, Voronin said that it does nothing but ask for funds from the central authorities, without any calculation backup. According to the head of state, instead of expressing emotions and wishes, the local authorities should work efficiently and earn additional incomes that could be spent on the real necessities of the municipality. The president rejected the Opposition’s accusations that the state budget for 2008 includes more funds for the Communist local authorities than for other authorities. Voronin said that all the calculations were made according to norms and the sceptics can check if they do not believe. The president said that if elections were rerun in Chisinau at the moment, the Communists would definitely win them. Vladimir Voronin referred to the situation in Rezina, where the Communists took power after early elections. He said that this happened because the Opposition did not prove its efficiency. He predicted that the coalition in the CMC would break up even if there were no early elections. Also, the head of state expressed his scepticism about the viability of the project to consolidate the political centre launched by PD and PSL. “I don’t think that this coalition will put up a strong resistance,” Voronin said. According to the president, a coalition can work only when the partners have very much trust in each other or a great interest. But, Voronin says, the Democrats have nothing in common with the Social-Liberals because there are a lot of contradictions between them: one is for neutrality, the other is in favour of joining NATO, the third supports the government and the fourth a union. The head of state says that the situation can change only if this partnership represents the interests of a third side, not necessarily from Moldova. Vladimir Voronin considers that such parties are accidental and do not have an ideological base that could unite the members and the electorate. The Opposition parties win only by lies and by buying votes, the head of state reasoned.