A referendum that could have solved a one-and-a-half year-old political deadlock in Moldova, which could not elect a head of state for lack of parliamentary majority, has failed.
Several attempts to elect a successor to Communist leader Vladimir Voronin, who stepped down in September last year after completing two consecutive four-year presidential terms, failed.
Marian Lupu, the candidate fielded by the pro-Western four-party ruling coalition, is just one vote short of a 61-member majority required to get elected to the 101-member-Parliament.
It called for a referendum on a constitutional amendment, so that the current system of selecting the President from a vote of Parliament could be replaced by a direct election open to all registered voters.
But the referendum held on Sunday became invalid, as it failed to register a one-third voter turnout.
The Central Election Committee (CEC) said only 30.98 per cent of the registered voters participated in the referendum. The Communists-led Opposition parties called for a boycott of the vote.
Prime Minister Vlad Filat called for an early snap poll as a way out of the impasse. A failure to achieve a breakthrough has deepened the poor European country's constitutional crisis.
The Constitution requires Moldova's Parliament to dissolve itself and hold new elections if the legislature is unable to elect a President in two attempts.
The last general election was held in July 2009, the second in four months, that reversed the swing in favor of the pro-Western Opposition coalition, ending a nine-year rule by the Communists.
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