Moldovan president to sign election law after veto override

CHISINAU, Moldova (Reuters) -- Moldovan President Petru Lucinschi will bow to parliament and sign a law ending country-wide presidential elections in the former Soviet state, his spokesman, Anatol Golea, said Monday.

Parliament overturned Friday a presidential veto and voted to change the country's constitution to have the president elected by parliament, rather than by popular vote. The bill was backed by 87 deputies in the 101-seat chamber.

Under the constitution, the president must now sign it into law. The changes will make Moldova the sole state within the Commonwealth of Independent States of ex-Soviet republics with power concentrated in the hands of parliament.

"President Lucinschi always acted within the law," Golea told a news briefing. "He will do the same now and will sign the changes to the constitution in the coming days."

Golea said Lucinschi would also insist on a nationwide referendum on presidential powers in the tiny wine-making state, wedged between Ukraine and Romania, one of the poorest countries in Europe.

The president submitted his initiative to hold the referendum to parliament on July 13 and the legislature should set a referendum date within the next six months, Golea said.

Lucinschi held a consultative referendum last year and received a broad public support to extend presidential powers, but parliament later blocked the changes.

Lucinschi, a former top Communist party functionary, had been due to run for re-election in December. He would have been favorite in a country-wide popular vote but faces almost no chance of being reelected by the hostile parliament.

His term ends in January, 2001.

Lucinschi said the changes could only worsen the life in the country of four million people, where average monthly salary is about $30. Moldova's parliament has toppled four cabinets during Lucinschi's term in office, and international lenders say the political instability has interfered with vital reforms.

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