The incumbent president, Vladimir Voronin, was term-limited and was elected to become speaker of the Parliament of Moldova in early May 2009; the ruling Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova (PCRM) nominated Zinaida Greceanîi.[1] As the PCRM held only 60 of 101 seats in parliament, but 61 seats were required to elect the president, at least one dissenting vote from the opposition was required; the opposition had announced, however, that it would boycott the election, thus forcing repeated parliamentary elections.[2]
In the first round on 20 May 2009, the opposition successfully boycotted the election procedure; a second round was set for 28 May 2009.[3] On that day, the election was postponed to 3 June 2009; the PCRM claimed that it was due to Ascension Thursday falling that day, while the opposition criticised the PCRM's attempts to delay the election.[4]
On 2 June 2009, the former parliamentary speaker Marian Lupu (who had been expected to become prime minister in a musical chairs-like shift of offices among Voronin, Greceanîi and Lupu) defected to the opposition, stating that he had realised that the PCRM was undemocratic and could not be reformed from within.[5] As had been expected, the second round of the presidential elections was also unsuccessful, leading to early parliamentary elections held on 29 July 2009.[6]
In both rounds, alternative candidates were also nominated by the PCRM – Stanislav Groppa, a doctor, in the first round; and Andrei Neguţă, the Moldovan ambassador to Russia, in the second round.
