Moldova elects new parliament speaker

All 53 members of the Alliance For European Integration voted for Mihai Ghimpu, who has been pushing for unification with Romania and opposes Russian influence in the country.

The Communists, who have held power since 2001, walked out of the first meeting of the new parliament, and said they would protest against the vote in court.

The Communist Party is the largest in parliament, but lacks sufficient seats to push through its choice of president. The party lost its majority in July's election, which saw the emergence of a pro-European alliance made up of four opposition parties, which now collectively hold 53 seats in the 101-member house.

The election of Ghimpu, who leads the Liberal Party, signals a breakthrough following months of political infighting.

In contrast to the Communist leadership, the new speaker has strongly criticized Russia's role in Moldova, and earlier said: "Russian occupants killed our past and are continuing to kill our present and future."

Several obstacles remain in choosing a new president to replace Communist leader Vladimir Voronin. The outgoing president has so far refused to hold talks with the coalition of opposition parties.

The Communist Party has enough votes to block any presidential candidate, and force the dissolution of parliament and new elections.

Under the Moldovan constitution, however, parliament can only be dissolved twice a year, which rules out new elections until 2010 following the polls in April and July.