CHISINAU, June 15 (RIA Novosti) - Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin on Monday signed a decree dissolving parliament and setting early parliamentary elections for July 29, a spokesman said.
"Last Friday, Moldova's Constitutional Court confirmed the right of the incumbent president to dissolve parliament," the spokesman said.
Moldova's constitution required new elections be held after the parliament voted in on April 5 twice failed to elect a president.
The Communist Party, which garnered 60 seats in the 101-member parliament, failed to win opposition support for former prime minister Zinaida Greceanii as president. She fell one vote short of the required 61 as the opposition boycotted both ballots.
Opposition protests against vote rigging in the parliamentary polls spiraled out of control in the capital, Chisinau, when some 10,000 rioters broke into the presidential residence and parliament. Several hundred protesters and police were injured in the violence.
Addressing the nation on television Monday evening, Voronin said the authorities would do everything possible to make "the electoral process even more in line with the norms and principles of the expression of free will."
"We are open for the most biased international observers, and we will do everything necessary so that every vote, cast for this or that party, is the result of our citizens' conscious choice rather than a consequence of administrative pressing or grafting on the part of electoral rivals. This is our duty and obligation," he said.
