alegeri.md

The newly-elected Parliament will convene in the first sitting on May 5, in line with a decree signed by the outgoing President Vladimir Voronin on April 24. The first sitting shall elect the working bodies of the Parliament, establish factions, commissions and the Permanent Bureau, as well as elect the legislature’s leadership. Further, the Parliament shall establish a commission for the election of Moldova’s President, which shall set the elections with about 30 days since the nomination. Once the president is elected, the Constitutional Court shall validate his/her mandate within three days. (Source: Jurnal de Chisinau)

The chairman of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers, Miguel Angel Moratinos, made a statement on Thursday to express concern about the situation in Moldova. “I am much concerned about the situation in Moldova following the violent events of 7 April,” reads the statement by Moratinos. “I urge the Moldovan government to act in accordance with its commitments towards the Council of Europe when dealing with the consequences of the April 7 events. The Moldovan authorities should guarantee the full respect for fundamental freedoms and human rights,” Moratinos stressed. He “called on all political forces in Moldova to engage in political dialogue with the view to restoring the proper functioning of democratic institutions.” (Source: Omega)

Members of European Parliament debated political crisis in Moldova at their plenary sitting on Thursday. They called upon Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin to condemn violence applied against protesters, to carry out an objective investigation into violation of human rights, and bring offenders to responsibility. European parliamentarian Olly Ren named the situation in Moldova as “very fragile”, and said the forum is strongly concerned about mass-scale violations of human rights here, stressing they must be investigated under an international control. MEP Peter Nekas stated the outgoing President Vladimir Voronin must abide by democratic principles and must condemn violence against protesters. European parliamentarians will present the results of their debate, conclusions and recommendations in a special Resolution of the European Parliament. Next week, an EU mission is expected to come to Chisinau to study in detail the post-election situation in Moldova. (Source: Infotag)

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe presumes there does exist a possibility for starting negotiations between the Moldovan authorities and the opposition after the proteststhat broke out in Chisinau after the ruling Communist Party’s victory in the April 5 parliamentary elections. The Head of the OSCE Mission to Moldova, Ambassador Philip Remler, stated to journalists in the Austrian capital that “all sides [to the bitter conflict over the election outcome] have by now assumed a position particularly attractive for outsiders. But he believes this not mean they do not wish negotiations. Simply, they need first to dance around a little bit before sitting at the negotiating table”. Philip Remler presumes both the Communist authorities and the opposition “are sincerely interested in finding out the truth, so that to prevent repetition of riots in the republic”. (Source: Infotag)

The “Moldova Noastra” (Our Moldova) Alliance (AMN) claims that the procedure of validation of the April 5, 2009 elections advantaged the communists and violated the principles of fair, free and legitimate elections. The Constitutional Court (CC) has demonstratively ignored the major election fraud evidence provided by the opposition, an action which raises concern and indignation, the party said in a communication. “We regard all the decisions of this court as preconceived and superficial. «Moldova Noastra» alone has provided more than 5,000 clear frauds and violations and more than 20 kilograms of copies of justificatory documents.” The AMN notes that the CC decisions cannot be contested but “in moral and professional terms.” (Source: AMN communication)

The Central Electoral Commission approved on Friday, April 24 the text of a gratitude message to players involved in the electoral campaign and the April 5, 2009 parliamentary elections. The message says that the parliamentary elections this year were a real test for all of us. The vote recount process ordered under the Constitutional Court decision from 12 April 2009 proved the fair functioning of electoral bodies. The CEC thanks members of constituency councils and electoral bureaus of polling stations for professionalism and devotion to their tasks of organising and conducting the elections to the Parliament of Moldova on April 5, 2009. As well, the Commission expresses gratitude to central and local public administrations, electoral contestants, national and international observers, media outlets and all electors for cooperating within elections. The CEC decided on Friday to issue credentials to members of the new Moldovan Parliament elected on April 5, 2009, publish the final election results after the vote recounting nationwide on April 15 and dissolve the electoral constituency councils and electoral bureaus of polling stations. (Source: CEC communication)

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has demanded from the Government of Moldova to answer clearly about the lawlessness applied to Mr. Anatol Matasaru, who was arrested after the April 7 riots in Chisinau. His lawyer, Victor Pantaru told a press conference on Friday that his client had been detained without whatever legal ground. “The police officers behaved with barbarous cruelty. They beat him up inhumanly. In addition, the court ruled to keep him in custody for 30 days — until May 8. We have sent an urgent claim to the European Court of Human Rights, asking it to state the violation of several articles of the European Convention on Human Rights”, the lawyer said. According to him, the ECHR has demanded from the Moldovan Government to answer what for Mr. Matasaru was arrested and bruised, and why he was deprived of access to medical assistance. “But perhaps the most cruel and offensive thing was that the man, caught and bruised for actually nothing, was forced to name the passwords of his electronic addresses, and to state officially that he had been, allegedly, paid by some forces for the organization of riot actions in Chisinau”, said lawyer Pantaru. (Source: Infotag)

The state commission for the elucidation of the April 7–8 events will focus on raising political, social and legal initiatives aimed to prevent such acts in future, not on bringing accusations and pronouncing verdicts. The chairman of the new commission, Vladimir Turcan, has made this promise during the first sitting of the commission. Lawmaker Turcan emphasised that the activity of commission should not be seized as an occasion to settle accounts between political forces and gather political capital. The chairman of the Board of Rectors from Moldova, Ion Bostan, proposed the hearing of the young people arrested by the police, in particular, of the organisers of the storming at the Presidency and Parliament buildings. It was agreed to hear representatives of central and local public administrations: Chisinau City Hall, Interior Ministry, Information and Security Service, State Guard Service, Prosecutor-General’s Office, Health Ministry, Ministry of Construction and Area Development, Ministry of Education and Youth, Ministry of Information Development, Central Electoral Commission and Centre for Human Rights of Moldova. The state commission for the elucidation of the April 7–8 events will function until May 5, when it will report its findings to the Parliament. (Source: Moldpres)