Four Communist M.P.s leave faction

Four Communist M.P.s announced their departure from the faction during a legislative meeting today. The deputies said they made their decision in protest of the Party of Communists' boycott of the repeat presidential election on December 7, which caused early legislative elections.

Vladimir Turcan, Victor Stepaniuc, Valentin Guznac, and Ludmila Belcencova will become independent M.P.s. Mr. Turcan said previously that he would like to start his own left-wing political party.

Communist M.P. Mark Tkaciuk said that the four M.P.s who left were the "conservative wing" of the party and were preventing its development. Mr. Tkaciuk also said that Mr. Stepaniuc and Mr. Turcan were thrown out of the faction for "intrigue and informational blackmail."

The Communist M.P. also called them "traitors."

There is some confusion about the exact chronology of events. Mr. Turcan announced the departure of the four M.P.s at the beginning of the legislative session, but immediately after that, Maria Postoico, head of the Communist faction in the legislature, announced that the four had already been thrown out of the faction that morning and asked them to leave Parliament and to give their seats to other Communist M.P.s on the electoral list. The four former Communist M.P.s are not required by law to give up their seats if they leave a party.

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