CHISINAU. July 30 (Interfax-AVN) - Four Moldovan opposition parties that have tentatively won more than half of the parliamentary seats in the Wednesday elections have started consultations on putting together a ruling coalition, said Moldovan Liberal Democratic Party leader Vlad Filat.
"The leaders of the four parties have started consultations on building a future coalition," Filat said at a press conference in Chisinau on Thursday.
"I hope we will reach an agreement, but I'd like to underscore that we are discussing not offices and not personal preferences and predilections. We are discussing principles for establishing a coalition," Filat said.
Asked by journalists whether a broad coalition could be set up to involve the Party of Communists based on the five principles, which the latter declared before the elections, Filat replied that he was observing "the laws and the constitution of the Republic of Moldova rather than the Party of Communists' principles."
The Central Elections Commission earlier announced tentative results of the elections, according to which the Party of Communists garnered more votes than any other party in the July 29 elections, but will hold only 48 out of the 101 parliamentary seats, while the other four opposition parties got 53 seats in aggregate.
Having 53 mandates, the opposition can form a government, but at least 61 votes are needed to elect a president.