Moldova under Lucinschi

Demokratizatsiya, Winter 2002 by Quinlan, Paul D

Eight months later Moldova was rocked by another political crisis. The Sturza government's almost nonexistent parliamentary majority virtually ended during the middle of October when four deputies defected from the Bloc for a Democratic and Prosperous Moldova and joined forces with a deputy from the Democratic Convention to form an independent parliamentary bloc. On 9 November 1999, fifty-eight deputies backed a no-confidence motion against the government. Supporting the motion were the Communist Party, a handful of independent bloc deputies, and the CDPF, which had joined with the opposition. Lucinschi was apparently instrumental in engineering the fall of the government and persuading several MPs to vote with the opposition, in spite of or because of Sturza's moderate economic success. On the eve of the no-confidence vote he publicly blamed the Sturza government for the country's plight, announced to the press that if he were a lawmaker he would cast his vote against the government, and called for a new government that was "less politicized." Sturza's opposition to Lucinschi's efforts to create a strong presidency and his potential to be a strong challenger for Lucinschi in the upcoming presidential election led to his downfall. So much for Lucinschi the reformer.

On 12 November 1999 Lucinschi named Valeriu Bobutac prime minister designate, giving him a mandate to create a government "of professionals no matter what party they belonged to," a tactic that would also allow Lucinschi to place more of his allies in the cabinet. Undoubtedly a government of professionals or experts was now much more attractive for Lucinschi in his bid to strengthen his power after the Constitutional Court on 3 November 1999 rejected his bid to hold a national referendum for a presidential republic. But on 22 November the CDPF, because its new allies would not deliver the cabinet posts desired, stunned Bobutac by voting against his nomination at the last minute, leaving him with only forty-eight votes, four shy of the necessary fifty-two. Lucinschi's next choice for prime minister designate was Vladimir Voronin, head of the Communist Party. Like Bobutac, Voronin called for a government based on "professionalism, not ... party affiliation," while toning down his past rhetoric about the building of socialism and pledging to continue market reforms and democratic development. Whether Lucinschi believed that Voronin would be confirmed or nominated him to further embarrass Parliament, as has been speculated, is hard to say, but like Bobutac he failed to be confirmed, also receiving only forty-eight votes. Finally, on 16 December, after again threatening to call early elections, Lucinschi nominated the first deputy minister from the last two cabinets, Dumitru Braghis. On 21 December 1999 forty Communists, eight independents, and nine CDPF delegates confirmed Braghis as the new prime minister of a cabinet of experts having no particular party affiliation. Lucinschi finally had a victory in his power struggle with Parliament, although a Pyrrhic one.