Alliance for Democracy and Reforms


The Alliance for Democracy and Reforms was a governing coalition, between numerous non-Communist parties, which had the absolute majority in the Moldovan Parliament after the 1998 parliamentary election.

The overall context

At the legislative elections on March 22, 1998, the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova gained 40 of the 101 places in the Moldovan Parliament, but was reduced to opposition when an Alliance for Democracy and Reforms was formed by the Democratic Convention of Moldova, Movement for a democratic and Prosperous Moldova, and Party of Democratic Forces.
It is important that a former First Secretary of the Moldavian Communist Party, Petru Lucinschi, was the President of Moldova during the activity of The Alliance for Democracy and Reforms.

Activity

The Alliance for Democracy and Reforms government was formed as a result of complex negotiations and was the first coalition government in the history of Moldova. ADR government included representatives of all political parties members of the coalition.
The Alliance for Democracy and Reforms had three Prime Ministers. The activity of the second government of Ion Ciubuc, the acting government of Serafim Urechean, and the government of Ion Sturza were marked by chronic political instability, which prevented a coherent reform program. Foreign policy was marked by a duality of belonging to the CIS and steps towards a rapprochement with Western Europe.
The Christian Democratic Popular Front voted with the Communist Party for the dismissal of the Alliance government on November 9, 1999. Disagreements that appeared within the Alliance for Democracy and Reforms, caused to some degree by displeasure with seat distributions, led to its disintegration and an overwhelming Party of Communists victory in 2001 parliamentary election.
In the next decade, the Party of Communists used very successfully the incoherent activity of the Alliance for Democracy and Reforms for the discreditation of any form of political coalition formed without Communists. Their criticisms of the Alliance For European Integration is a good example.