Moldova's constitutional court ruled on September 8 that the election of speaker of parliament Mihai Ghimpu on August 28 was not unconstitutional, allowing parliament to resume work after an enforced 10-day break. The court's decision is final and cannot be appealed.

The Communists, which are the largest group with 48 MPs in the 101-seat parliament, appealed the election on the grounds that they were not in the plenary hall during the vote and were denied their constitutional right to assembly by not being able to form a parliament group and field their own nominee in the election.

The situation arose when Ivan Calin, who was presiding over the parliament's first meeting because he is the most senior MP, declared the meeting over before a speaker vote could be held. The other four parties, which have formed a coalition meant to keep Communists out of government, refused to accept the ruling and held the speaker election anyway.

The four parties won more seats than the Communists, who ruled the country for the past eight years, in the July 29 snap polls, called after parliament failed to elect a president in the wake of the April 5 scheduled elections.

Three opposition parties claimed at the time that the Communists, who won 60 seats in the legislature, committed large-scale electoral fraud and thousands of protesters took to the streets on April 7 to protest against the outcome of the elections, ransacking the presidency and parliament buildings.

At the July polls, the three parties and a fourth, which benefitted from the defection of Marian Lupu, speaker in the previous legislature and widely seen as the leader of the more pro-Western wing within the Communist party, won a combined simple majority in parliament, but still short of the 61 seats needed to elect the next president. Communist incumbent Vladimir Voronin is barred from running after serving the constitutional limit of two terms.

The election of speaker of parliament was especially important in this situation, since should parliament fail once again to elect a president after two ballots, the speaker acts as the head of state and appoints an interim prime minister, with curtailed powers, until new early elections are called.

Under Moldovan law, new elections cannot be held again this year.

The simple majority of the four parties is enough to vote the interim cabinet and make changes in key positions, such as the prosecutor-general and the head of the public broadcaster. Both institutions have been accused by the coalition of adopting a heavy pro-Communist bias during the election campaigns this year and in the aftermath of the April 7 riots.