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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. (Source: Info-Prim)

Liberal Party (PL), Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova (PLDM) and “Moldova Noastra” Alliance (AMN) have four days, starting Thursday, April 9, to verify the voter rolls used in the April 5, 2009 parliamentary elections. Such a decision was approved unanimously by the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) on Wednesday evening. The three parties insist that recounting of ballots would prove frauds that favored the ruling party in the April 5, 2009 elections. Victor Morgoci, Stefan Creanga and Nicolae Railean, the representatives of opposition parties at CEC, said that thousands of dead people were included in voter rolls and somebody else voted for them. Meanwhile, the three have told Info-Prim Neo that the time they have is very short to check all the voter rolls. However, Nicolae Railean, the AMN representative, said that the deadline could be extended if necessary. Railean was discontent with the long-lasting procedure and that the agreement of the chairs of district election councils received through the district law courts of Moldova is required. Elections are to be validated by the Constitutional Court. If the opposition will identify that the voter rolls contain dead people, the elections could be declared invalid. (Source: Info-Prim)

Hundreds of people kept protesting in the Great National Assembly Square on Thursday, claiming the election fraud and demanding new parliamentary elections. Leaders of the three opposition parties which entered the new legislature did not participate in the protests. The manifestation was generally peaceful. Demonstrators shouted the same slogans “Down with the Communists!”, “Freedom”, “No Violence” etc.

The Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections “Coalition-2009” has called upon all media institutions from Moldova to prove responsibility and cover post-electoral developments in the country fairly. The Coalition-2009 asks media outlets to be aware of the very important role they have in making the public opinion and present the information to people in a pluralistic manner by covering positions of all the parties accused of being involved in organising protests and producing violence. In particular, the Coalition-2009 addresses the public national-coverage stations Moldova-1 and Radio Moldova subsidised from public funds, asking them to cover the events fairly and unbiased, to respect the presumption of innocence, not to withdraw from the context the statements by the sides concerned, not to manipulate the records and to grant the right to opinion to all the sides accused of having organised the riots. In the context of post-electoral developments, the Coalition-2009 encourages the respect for the right to free, public and peaceful assemblies and demonstrations, but condemns violent and vandalism actions and calls upon public authorities to ensure the rule of law and security of people. (Source: Monitor Media)

The European Union Presidency Trio (Foreign Ministers of the Czech Republic, France and Sweden) during a meeting in Sarajevo have reiterated the messages contained in the previous Czech EU Presidency statements on the situation in Moldova issued on April 7 and 8. The EU remains ready to work with Moldova in accordance with European values and principles and is committed to further strengthen mutual relations between EU and Moldova. In this regard, the role of the EU Special Representative to Moldova is essential. For the EU it is essential to enjoy good relations with its neighbours. While understanding the complexity of the Moldovan-Romanian relations, we call on the Government of Moldova to resume normal relations with Romania. We call on the Moldovan authorities to respect all constitutional freedoms and on all parties to refrain from any violence.

Protesters who gathered in the Great National Assembly Square on Thursday, April 9 urge the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) to publish the voter rolls in Monitorul Oficial as soon as possible. Protesters say that illegalities committed during the April 5 elections will be found easier shall voter rolls be published. Otherwise, protesters threaten to continue the demonstrations. They invite the opposition political leaders to come to the square and not to be afraid of the communists. (Source: Infotag)

Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin had a telephone conversation with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev on Thursday. The sides exchanged opinions about social-political situation in Moldova. Medvedev congratulated the Moldovan authorities for the way they acted during the April 7 violent riots, saying that they controlled the state of things and restored the rule of law in the capital of the country. (Source: Moldpres)

Mark Tkaciuk, head of the electoral staff of the Party of Communists, says that the authorities will not step backward with regard to the protests in Chisinau. He delivered this statement to www.stireazilei.md. Tkaciuk blamed the opposition for the developments in the Chisinau downtown. According to Tkaciuk, “the leaders of the three political parties” attempted the subversion of the governing “by taking people to streets and thought that they will have a civilised behaviour after giving them vodka, proposing not to recognise the elections while the European Union has recognised them.” (Source: stireazilei.md)

The Liberal Party (PL) asks the European Union (EU) and the Council of Europe (CoE) to deploy a mission to Moldova to monitor the violence which developed during the protests. The deputy chairman of the PL, Dorin Chirtoaca, told a press conference on Thursday that the communist governing is to blame for the post-electoral situation in the country. The Liberals think that the governing resorted to violence “to cover the frauds.” As well, the PL condemns the violence and calls for peaceful demonstrations. (Source: Deca-press)

The Conservative Party (PC) does not recognise the results of the April 5 elections and considers that checking the voter rolls and recounting the ballots are necessary. “Public resources have been fraudulently used, while the ruling party was advantaged by public radio and TV stations and other nationwide-coverage broadcasters such as EU TV, NIT, Antena C and N4,” said PC chairwoman Natalia Nirca, giving many other “examples of fraud”. (Source: Info-Prim)

The “Actiunea Europeana” (European Action) Movement (MAE) has demanded the invalidation of parliamentary elections and scheduling of repeated elections on the basis of legally issued voter rolls. According to a statement, the MAE seeks the immediate release of the arrested people; the punishing of the police for having molested protesters; the immediate granting of access to the Opposition to the (non-)public Broadcaster and the unbiased information of people; the strict supervision of elections by EU representatives, especially in counting and electronic terms. (Source: MAE statement)

The Civil Society Congress considers that Moldova’s authorities were behind the Tuesday storming at the Parliament and Presidency buildings. At a press conference on Tuesday, Congress member Fiodor Ghelici acknowledged that he was a witness of the storming and generally saw “peaceful protesters who did not want the storming, but there were provokers in the crowds who made the disorder.” According to Ghelici, everything was arranged to make the population distrust the opposition parties. (Source: Infotag)

On Wednesday, April 8, hundreds of Moldovans participated in protests held in some European capitals to make common cause with protesters from Chisinau, who accuse the governing of having falsified the parliamentary elections. Protests were held in Dublin (Ireland), Paris (France), and Bucharest (Romania).

In Moldova the lilac is blossoming and all the current developments going on in the country can be designated as a lilac revolution, the first deputy chairman of the United Russia faction from the Russian State Duma, Vladimir Petkhin, has said about disturbances committed by young people in Chisinau. According to Russian press reports, he is sure that the disturbances in Chisinau are the result of the outside interference. “We have already seen something like this — the orange revolution in Ukraine, the pink revolution in Georgia, the tulip revolution in Kyrgyzstan. Lilac is currently blossoming in Moldova, so a lilac revolution is going on there. All these revolutions are not organised for the benefit of people or of the country, their only goal is to slacken Russia’s influence in the former Soviet Union countries, so that no pro-Russia states will remain around Russia,” Pekhtin said. “A double citizenship was allowed and as a result, half of Moldova’s population has Romanian passports. For more than ten years the country is negotiating the union with Romania and Ukraine wants the unrecognised Transnistrian republic,” the lawmaker stated. “Russia’s position with regard to the developments in Moldova is unambiguous: there were no violations in the course of elections, the Constitution and legislation were respected, according to international observers,” Petkhin added. (Source: Infotag)

Representatives of the “Bloc of Natalia Vitrenko” from Odessa and Donetsk (Ukraine) will picket the Romanian Consulate in Odessa on Thursday to demand the NATO member state to stop meddling in Moldova’s interior affairs. Ukrainian media outlets quoted the leader of the Donetsk-based organisation of the Ukrainian Progressive Socialist Party, Olga Solovenko, as saying that the Romanian flag installed on the Moldovan presidential building is a proof “who is behind the anti-constitutional opposition.” “For this reason, we demand a halt to Romania’s shameless meddling in Moldova’s interior affairs and the declaring of the Romanian consul from Odessa as persona non grata,” Solovenco said. Their leader Ludmila Kaetkina wants all employees of the Romanian diplomatic missions to Ukraine to be declared personas non grata. (Source: Infotag)

The former presidential adviser with special missions, Sergiu Mocanu, held on April 8 morning for 72 hours, is accused of having organised the massive disturbances and usurpation of state power. The Popular Action Movement of Sergiu Mocanu condemns the police actions and demands the release of the former presidential adviser. On the other hand, the wife of the politician asks Voronin not to let her alone at large. She told that her sons, investigated under hooliganism charges, stay in the area of the Romanian Embassy for already seven months, taking a refugee there to avoid arrest. (Source: stireazilei.md)

Leaders of the Liberal Democratic Party Vlad Filat, Alexandru Tanase and Vitalie Nagacevschi are being investigated under criminal charges. They are accused of having instigated protesters to massive disturbances on Monday evening. In their turn, the PLDM leaders assure that they face a governing-ordered case, which is part of an ampler scenario aimed to discredit the opposition. “We did not do anything but called upon protesters to be calm and not to commit violence,” Filat said. (Source: stireazilei.md)