UPDATE 1-Moldova's Democratic Party dissolves government to end crisis

Moldovan Prime Minister Pavel Filip's Democratic Party of Moldova said on Friday it would step down and dissolve the government, which had remained in power in a caretaker role since an election in February, to resolve a national crisis.

"The resignation of the government of Pavel Filip is the only possible and legitimate solution to prevent a political crisis," deputy party leader Vladimir Cebotari said in a televised briefing. February's election had produced a hung parliament. The deadlock was eventually broken when the ACUM bloc forged an unlikely alliance with the Socialist party last weekend, and nominated ACUM leader Maia Sandu as prime minister.

But Filip's Democrats, led by tycoon Vladimir Plahotniuc, refused to give up power, arguing that Sandu and the Socialists had missed a legal deadline to form a government. Cebotari told his audience at the televised briefing: "We know that you are bitterly offended by what you see today in your country. But we want stability and peace, and that's why we took this decision."

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