Fifth Communist M.P. defects, leaving party with 43 seats; Communist M.P. calls defectors "rats"

Svetlana Rusu, who was initially elected on the Party of Communists (PC) electoral list in 2009, announced this weekend that she is leaving the party.

Ms. Rusu announced that she will be joining the four other Communist defectors who became members of the Moldova Unita [United Moldova] Party (MUP).

Communist M.P. Grigore Petrenco called the defectors "rats."

During its recent congress, MUP elected former Communist M.P. Vladimir Turcan as its head.

At this point, the PC, which came in with 48 seats out of 101 in the legislature, now has 43 seats. The Liberal Democrats follow with 18, the Liberals with 15, the Democrats with 13, Moldova Noastra with 5, MUP with 5, and Actiunea Europeana with 2.

Although these shifts weaken the PC to some degree and make the Alliance's job easier, MUP is positioning itself as a left-wing opposition party. Its members seem to agree with the Communists on most issues (pro-Russian, anti-NATO, against the notion of Moldova being made up by a Romanian majority), and analysts have said they left because of personal disagreements with PC head Vladimir Voronin and conflict about the party's future.

So we are unlikely to witness any significant changes in the dynamics between the opposition and the ruling coalition, which continues to have a very flimsy majority.

Moreover, whereas right after elections the Moldovan Parliament had five parties represented, now there are seven. The ruling Alliance for European Integration, which was made up of four parties, is now a collective of five, after two M.P.s left Moldova Noastra to join Actiunea Europeana.