"I'm telling you honestly, I hand over the top position into the hands of the new power with a heavy heart," Voronin said in a statement.
"I don't believe in the ability of politicians, who have built their alliance only on negativism and criticism of their own country in order to allot top positions, to propose a positive programme," Voronin said, adding that he and his team will become the leftist opposition.
"His resignation is quite controversial. Voronin allowed himself to occupy two state positions simultaneously - member of parliament and president, which is disallowed under the country’s Constitution. His resignation means that Voronin decided to cede his powers," the head of the Chisinau-based NGO Institute for Public Policy, Arcadie Barbarosie, told SeeNews.
Oleg Cristal, a political analyst at Chisinau-based independent analytical centre Adept, concurred: "Voronin made his choice, he decided to remain a member of parliament."
Voronin, who is the Communist Party leader, is barred by the Constitution from seeking a third four-year term in office after serving as head of state since 2001. The Communists, which remains the largest single party in the legislature, control 48 of the 101 seats in parliament after the July 29 snap elections.
Under the Moldovan Constitution, the speaker of parliament assumes the functions of president when the head of state resigns. The pro-West coalition in the Moldovan parliament elected the leader of the Liberal Party (PL) Mihai Ghimpu as parliament speaker on August 28. The parliament now has two months to choose a new president.
"I think that the parliament will form the government first and then will start to worry about presidential elections, because [the incumbent] Prime Minister and some other ministers resigned before an incoming cabinet could be formed," Barbarosie said.
“The coalition is now able to put together a new government and I think they will do so as it is the only way out of the current situation. The coalition is not sure that they will be able to elect the president," Cristal said.
He doesn’t rule out the possibility of new parliamentary elections in 2010. "The Communists have already said that they will not vote for a presidential candidate nominated by the coalition, which means that new elections will be called again."
Moldova’s acting Prime Minister Zinaida Greceanii, member of the Communist Party, and seven ministers resigned earlier this week, because they are barred from being members of the government and parliament at the same time.
The four pro-West opposition parties, which entered the chamber, together control 53 seats. The PL, the Democratic Party, PDM, the Liberal Democratic Party, PLDM, and "Our Moldova" Alliance, AMN, created a government coalition in August. The four parties have enough votes to form a government of their own but are short of the 61-seat majority needed to elect the new head of state who will nominate the prime minister.
