Alliance and Communists begin constitutional battle to change Article 78

The ruling Alliance for European Integration announced this weekend that it would submit a proposal to change Article 78 in the Constitution to the Constitutional Court, which would require for the head of state in the country to be directly elected by the people.

Right now, Article 78 says that the President needs to be elected by three fifths of M.P.s in Parliament (61 out of 101). This requirement has caused a stalemate between the anti-Communists and the Communists in the legislature, since both after elections on April 5 and on July 29, neither group had a 61-seat majority.

The Communists have earlier submitted a different proposal to change the Constitution, asking for the head of state's election in Parliament in three rounds. The first round would require 61 votes, then 57, then 52.

The Party of Communists has been a vocal opponent of the direct election of the President. Analysts have suggested that this opposition comes from the fact that the party currently has no visible national leader that could win the election. In contrast, the Democratic Party is headed by Communist defector Marian Lupu, who is most likely to win a direct election.

About 70 percent of Moldovans would like to elect their President directly, according to recent polls.

The country's first and second presidents - Mircea Snegur and Petru Lucinschi - were elected directly. In 2000, the Communists and the Christian Democrats united to change the Constitution and have the head of state be elected by the legislature. Vladimir Voronin was elected in this way twice - in 2001 and 2005.