Update on Moldova
Posted on Thursday, April 9, 2009 at 8:07pm
8 responses
Before I say anything else- let’s get things straight. I am by no means an authority on Moldovan politics. I’ve only been there once ( so far..), and the National Assembly for Wales hopes to establish links with the country and with the National Assembly of Gagauzia. I am posting on this issue as I am genuinely interested in what is happening there, and am eager to introduce readers who potentially may never have heard of Moldova to that which is happening in the country. Right, that’s off my chest.
So, reports today state that the OSCE are generally pleased with how the elections were run. This despite what I have said in a previous post about individual members of the OSCE voicing their misgivings. What is true however is that there has been a hard line response to alleged Romanian involvement in the protests that took place in Chisinau- Moldova has imposed a visa regime on Romanians, is expelling Romania’s ambassador, and entry to Romanian journalists. From this website(Association for Participatory Democracy) we are told that-
‘The Party of Communists (PCRM) won the April 5, 2009 parliamentary elections with 49.48% of the valid votes cast. Central Electoral Commission (CEC) made public the official results on Wednesday, April 8. The same data shows that three other political parties have passed the electoral threshold of 6%: Liberal Party (PL) with 13.14% of the valid votes cast, Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova (PLDM) — 12.43% and the “Moldova Noastra” Alliance with 9.77%. Voters from abroad had other preferences. Thus, out of 16 914 Moldovan citizens who voted at the 33 polling stations opened within the Moldovan diplomatic missions, 45.51% chose PL, 24.88% voted PLDM, PCRM took 8.53% and AMN — 7.92% of the votes cast. The remaining electoral contestants have gathered less than 6% of the votes cast. PSD got 3.7%, PPCD — 3.03%, PD — 2.97%, UCM — 2.75% and MAE — 1.01%. For the remaining political parties and independent candidates have voted less than 1% of electors. A total of 1 555 577 voters out of over 2.5 million eligible voters took part in the voting. 61 votes of the members of Parliament are required to elect the new president of the country.’
..which means that the Communists will need to gather support from other parties to elect a President, which may be hard given that they are contesting the result. My sources in Moldova ( no- not via twitter or Facebook) tell me that the votes will be recounted, and that there will possibly be a second election.
Meanwhile, Amnesty International has waded in to the affair, by stating that ‘civil society activists should not be held responsible for the rioting that took place the day after a peaceful youth protest action on 6 April in the Moldovan capital of Chişinău. If found guilty, they could face up to eight years’ imprisonment. Read the whole article here.
I’ll continue to watch what is happening in Moldova via twitter, facebook, the web, news articles- all of which provide information on the situation from differing angles. I believe that another protest is being organised tomorrow, which organisers are calling the ‘Flower Revolution‘ as they are asking people to turn up with flowers in their hands to show that their protest is nonviolent. The comments section of the blog organising the protest has already attracted some negative comments- they are accused of being naive if they expect the protest to be peaceful. Nevertheless, people wanting to attend are being warned on twitter to ’stay away from provocations’….
thanks to you for keeping us informed on the situation in moldova bethan – whichever side of this debate people are on i think we’d all agree that it doesnt seem to be getting much coverage in the so called ‘mainstream’ uk media!
Im pleased to hear our national assembly hopes to establish links with the country – i look foward to the day when Wales has its own embassy in chisinau!
I agree that with leigh richards that it is good that you are keeping people informed but it must be done in a responsible and balanced manner.
Why are these people protesting? From the publicity you are giving to the right wing protests you seem to be of the belief that you agree with them that the Communist Party should be thrown out of power despite winning the election only because a small urban elite in Moldova and others abroad don’t like the way the majority of citizens voted. Is this your position? If it is not, and you believe that the results of elections deemed free and fair by international observers should stand, surely you should stop publicising and supporting this small minority of protesters who seem intent on undermining the democratic process, and call on all political parties to re-engage in the democratic process. I hope that the liberal parties will accept their defeat and further violence and instability can be avoided as it will be the poorest in society who will suffer the most and not the Moldovans living abroad or the urban elite.
‘I agree that with leigh richards that it is good that you are keeping people informed but it must be done in a responsible and balanced manner.’
yes, that is what I am seeking to do. If you want to provide links to other news stories then please do so. I am not going to stop linking to people who are organising protests. That is their right, surely?
It is right for you to provide publicity and links if you support their cause and wish to publicise it. I had previously understood that the Plaid Cymru Party had claimed to be a socialist party so I presume that in your country you do publicise and provide links on this blog all protests inclduing those by right wing groups unless you agree with their aims.
If you do not support the attempted overthrow of a government democratically elected in elections deemed to be free and fair, as a democratically elected representative yourself please come out and condemn the protests and the aim of the protesters and call on all parties to respect the will of the people as shown in the election.
my opinion:
1. the election was a big fat fraud
2. the “acts of vandalism” were staged by the communists in order to distract people from the aforementioned fraud, to start a diplomatic war with romania and and to begin an autocratic regime under the pretext of “bringing order in the country”
why?
1. no Osce report will convince me that 80% of the people who voted in romania, most of them even more anticommunist than the “twitter revolution” crowd gave their votes to the communists. it’s like saying that 80% of the protesters from pman, voted on sunday, in fact, for communists. add to that rumors of multiple voting, dead people voting, etc. there is much more info on this subject, which can be found if someone seaches.
2. it is believed by many people from moldova, and not only,(including me)that a group of instigators infiltrated the peacefully protesting sudents, brought stones, the eu and romanian flags, and forced their way in the presidency, along with the angry students provoked by them.
How could they enter the building so easily? their number was not that great. why the police from within just left, without defending a simbol of state? why the police and the firemen did nothing to stop the vandalism and the fire for more than 2 hours? for god’s sake, this was happening in the center of the capital, not at the north pole. why were there so few policemen in the first place, when at other protests you could see them on every square meter? why hadn’t the politicians from the building locked the doors before leaving their offices? when they had important documents, money, and other stuff there? when the vandals entered, they didn’t break any door. who opened the safes for them? how the 2 who put the flags on the roof found so easily the way there? the door to the roof was made of steel, and only three people in the country have the keys for it. who opened the door for them? why on the fotos with those 2 putting the flag there is a policemen behind them?
umm….why would a party that has won 3 free and fair elections in a row – and has just won more support than all the right wing free market supporting parties combined – seek to establish a ‘autocratic regime?
They already have the support of the overwhelming majority of moldovan voters and clearly have no need to resort to any of the ridiculous skulduggery the above poster suggests!
The right wing pro-nato pro free market parties in moldova are clearly very bad losers and cannot accept the fact that they have been decisively rejected by the moldovan electorate for the third time in a row!
read the article in le figaro “la revolution volee des moldaves” or find its translation. it tells the truth, and this is just the top of the iceberg…in the country now there is an atmosphere of fear and terror..police dressed in civil take students and underage kids by force and torture them, without giving them the right to a lawyer, the parents search for days for them…2 already died – both found covered in bruises, the police says the fist died of gass intoxication – yeah, right, with that hole on his forehead, and the second “commited suicide”, i’ve heard what the tortured kids are saying – its horrifying. they beat all without exception.they played football with the body of a boy, then told him to wash his face because they didn’t like that his noseblead was dirtying their carpet.. after that they put him on the ground and beat him some more, in groups. when he was finally in hospital he told the press that he cannot stand up because his head is spinning, he sees yellow spots in front of his eyes and vomits blood. and they put 2! policemen to guard him, indeed a “fearsome enemy of the state”..who says he didn’t threw a stone and was protesting peacefuly.. there are hundreds of such kids…read the UN report on violence…watch the videos with them..why would a ‘democratically elected gouvernment” commit crime against its own people? the same police who was praised for their “stoic attitude” on april 7?
anyways, i lost the will to argue, as i said who wants to know just search the net, its full of info…and i have no desire to make false claims, or convince everybody that i’m right..if i am – and i don’t doubt it, time will show – you cannot hide the truth, it tends to come to surface…
this is the only site i put a comment on, and the last one. i’m not a political activist and i have no desire to impose my view on everybody. it just happened that at the moment when i saw this blog, my heart was hurting so much for these kids that i just cound resist… sorry if i offended anyone.
anon- I am sorry that you feel like this. As you said, the truth will come out. There needs to be action from the International community in Moldova, and a way in which people can restore their faith in the democratic process.