Moldova’s Communist opposition blocked an attempt by the pro-European coalition to appoint a new president on Tuesday, in a development that threatens a return to political instability for the economically troubled country.

Marian Lupu, whose Democratic party is a member of the four-party Alliance for European Integration, won the unanimous backing of the coalition’s 53 MPs. However, MPs from the opposition Communist party, which lost power in elections in July, stood firm in their opposition to the 41-year-old, who fell short of the 61-vote qualified majority vote needed in the 101-member parliament to appoint a president.