Moldova's Pro-West Coalition Nominate Former Parliament Speaker Marian Lupu for President - Media

The four-party coalition, which controls 53 of the 101 seats in the chamber, comprises the Democratic Party, the Liberal Party, the Liberal Democratic Party and Our Moldova Alliance. The coalition had enough support in the chamber to form a cabinet but is short of the 61-seat majority needed to elect the country's next president which means it will have to rely on support from members of parliament from opposition Communist Party.

The Communists, which have 48 seats in the chamber, have nominated no candidate for president so far, Protv Chisinau (www.protv.md) reported.

Moldova's parliament will vote for president on October 23. Under Moldova's constitution, a new general election should be called if parliament fails twice to elect a new head of state.

Moldova has been in political stalemate since the April 5 parliamentary elections, in which the Communist Party won 49.48% of the vote - not enough to elect the president on its own. The country held snap parliamentary elections on July 29 after the previous Communist-dominated legislature failed to elect a new head of state in two attempts.