Moldova's elections results: Transition still to be started
The European Partnership for Democracy has been closely
following the developments in Moldova after parliamentary elections in April.
Already the election campaign was marred by irregularities such as a strong
media bias, the intimidation of various contestants, abuse of state administrative
resources for campaign purposes, pressure being exerted on voters by
authorities or employers on how they should vote - with most of the pressure
coming from the governing Communist Party of Moldova. In those elections the
Communists won a majority of 60 places out of 101 in the parliament. The
announcement of the election results led to demonstrations in Chisinau with
crowds of young people feeling they were cheated and somebody had "stolen their
vote", and they demanded a change in the government, believing that most of the
country really voted for change but that the results were rigged. The
demonstrations led to riots, attacks on the parliament and presidential palace
and a subsequent crackdown by the government against youths, media and
opposition parties. It is estimated that over 700 people were detained during
April 6th and 7th and in its aftermath, many of them beaten and harassed and
forced to sign a declaration that they had staged a coup d'état.
These events mobilized the whole society and international
actors in Moldova too. The EPD has collaborated with Moldovan civil society
organizations in order to help them mobilize the European Union. Four
representatives of Moldovan civil society organizations visited Brussels
between June 16 and 18 and held meetings with various European institutions'
representatives about the current political crisis in Moldova. The EPD has
supported their initiative and organized their meetings in Brussels. During
their visit they presented proof of what happened in the aftermath of April
elections and enquired about more involvement of the EU in Moldova before the
early elections planned for July 29th. Please see the memorandum
from their visit here.
The EPD remained involved in the Brussels debate on Moldova.
On Monday July 20th 2009 the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
(ALDE) group in the European Parliament organized an event on the situation in
Moldova in the light of upcoming early elections. Over 80 people gathered on
this occasion to hear some of the voices coming from Moldova commenting on the
current political situation in Moldova which is part of both the European
Neighborhood Policy and Eastern Partnership - two significant policies of the
EU towards its neighboring countries. Dr. Marcin Walecki, Executive Director of
the European Partnership for Democracy, held a speech summarizing the current
elections campaign and its challenges, please read his speech here.
Kristina Prunerova, the EPD Programme Manager responsible
for Moldova, traveled to Chisinau during the week of elections and was able to observe
them closely. The campaign was marked by incidents similar to the previous
campaign - a strong media bias supporting the Communist party, government
representatives misusing their position for campaigning, voters' lists were not
appropriately amended so on the day of elections the same problems arose. The
Communist Party of the Republic of Moldova (PCRM) has gained the largest share
of votes of 44.69%, followed by the Liberal Democratic Party with 16.7% (PLDM),
the Liberal Party with 14.68% (PL) and the Democratic Party with 12.54% (PD).
The fifth party to overcome the threshold of 5 percent is Moldova Noastra
Alliance with 7.35% and these 5 forces will be present in the new Parliament.
The voter turnout was 58,8 % which is about one percent more than in the April
elections and was sufficient for the elections to be acknowledged as valid (the
minimum voter turnout in Moldova is one third). The conversion of votes into parliamentary
seats is as follows: Party of Communists of Moldova 48 seats, Liberal
Democratic Party 18 seats, Liberal Party 15 seats, Democratic Party 13 seats
and Alliance Moldova Noastra 7 seats.
The International Election Observation Mission of the OSCE
has issued a statement about the elections on July 30th in which it concluded
that early parliamentary elections in Moldova met many international standards,
but the process underscored the need for continued democratic reforms to
restore public trust. Several shortcomings were highlighted by the observers:
the election campaign was affected by subtle intimidation and media bias, the
inaccuracy of the electoral register has once again exposed weaknesses, the
misuse of administrative resources had a negative effect on the equality of
campaign opportunities. Similar recognition of the elections followed from the
Swedish Presidency of the European Union , the EU High Representative for the
Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana and the EU Commission for
External Relations, Benita Ferrero Waldner .
Even with all the proof presented by the NGOs in their
reports nothing major obstructed the validation of election results. The evidence
was gathered but very few cases were presented to the CEC by the opposition
parties or the NGOs. It seems the society has accepted the legitimacy of these
elections, as too have the opposition political parties and the PCRM.
The 4 opposition parties gained 53 seats in 101-seats
parliament, they announced a creation of "Alliance for European Integration"
and started talks about the creation of a democratic government in Moldova but
no program or declaration is known yet. The newly formed coalition intends to
achieve five major goals: restore the rule of law; overcome the socioeconomic
crisis and foster economic development; decentralize the government and promote
local autonomy; achieve Moldova's territorial reintegration; achieve Moldova's
European integration and follow a balanced, consistent and responsible foreign
policy. A joint government program built on the principles set out in the
coalition declaration is to be presented shortly.
The next step is to start a dialogue with the Communist
Party of the Republic of Moldova which would enable the election of president
(the coalition needs at least 8 PCRM votes for the presidential elections, if
they do not get them new early elections can be scheduled for next year). All
the parties have ruled out the possibility of negotiating any government
position with the Communists.
The EPD is preparing a report which will outline the
possible scenarios of the situation, please visit www.epd.eu.