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The newly-elected Parliament will convene in the first sitting on May 5 at the Republican Palace. The sitting will be chaired by Communist Deputy Ivan Calin, who is the eldest member of the new legislature, PCRM Deputy Vladimir Turcan has stated to Moldpres. He said that during the first sitting of the Parliament, the chairman of the Constitutional Court, Dumitru Pulbere, will present a report on results of the April 5 parliamentary elections and validation of mandates of the elected parliamentarians. The new Parliament will be formally constituted after the presentation of the report. Under the effective legislation, the parliamentary factions shall be established the next ten days after the sitting on constitution of the legislature. The numerical and nominal composition of factions shall be presented by leaders of each faction. (Source: Moldpres)

“We offer the opposition to jointly organize the activity of the Parliament in a normal regime,” the outgoing Moldova’s president and the leader of the Party of Communists (PCRM), Vladimir Voronin, stated on Thursday, being asked what he wants from the other parties in the parliament, which jointly have 41 seats. “We’ve got a lot to do and we must cooperate,” added the head of the state and member of the new parliament. Voronin said all the positions will be negotiated, they will democratically discuss about the nominees to head the parliamentary committees and other functions, considering the seats held. “As for functions in the new government, it’s useless to negotiate since we have 60 seats,” continued Voronin. The president rejected the idea of making a coalition cabinet. “It’s not necessary. But we’ll promote competent people, with original ideas, who represent or support opposition parties, as we have always done,” Vladimir Voronin mentioned. (Source: Info-Prim)

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted a resolution on Moldova on Wednesday in a plenary session. According to resolution, PACE urged the Moldovan authorities “to start immediately an independent and thorough investigation of all these allegations of human rights violations, and that those responsible for these violations be brought to trial”, in full co-operation with the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights and its Committee for the Prevention of Torture. It also recommended the immediate start of “an independent, transparent and credible inquiry into the post-electoral events”. PACE has also expressed its strong concern about acts of violence committed by the police in the period following the Moldovan parliamentary elections, including certain alleged cases of “beating and ill-treatment”, violations of the right to a fair trial and disproportionate restrictions on freedom of the media. With a view to improving confidence in the country’s democratic institutions, the Assembly again urged the Moldovan authorities to continue its reforms of the electoral legislation, the media and the police. It also called for a more effective court system and a major improvement to detention conditions to bring them into line with European standards. The Assembly calls on Moldova and its neighbours and partners, particularly Romania, Ukraine and Russia, which are also members of the Council of Europe, to play a constructive role in calming the tensions and promoting dialogue between all the political stakeholders, while respecting the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. (Source: Infotag)

The outgoing president of Moldova, Vladimir Voronin, leader of the Party of Communists (PCRM) and member of the newly-elected Parliament, told a TV programme on Wednesday, April 29 that he will do his best to prevent early elections. “Those from the opposition will not challenge early elections if they are patriots. I will do my best to prevent this,” Voronin promised. “However, I do not think that it will happen because it should not happen, because this would be bad for all.” At the same time, the PCRM leader said that his party is ready for eventual early elections: “We are not afraid of losing or winning 10–20 more mandates. We are capable to rule this country.” Voronin advised the opposition not to launch into early elections. “They should think well if they will get the least the 41 mandates they hold now,” Voronin added. (Source: jurnal.md)

The events in Chisinau that followed the April 5 parliamentary elections were developing according to the scenario of ’coloured revolutions’, presumes Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin. Speaking over a TV-broadcast on Tuesday night, the President said he would rather not elaborate on details of the events and their possible aftermath because the Prosecutor General’s Office is now investigating all this, and “many things are being clarified, and witnesses evidence and confessions are appearing. I have no doubt that all things will be called by their proper names”. Voronin wondered why the designers of “the April 7 barbarism and aggression” did not wish to wait until April 8, when the Central Electoral Commission was supposed to announce the final election results, and “if we provide answer to this question, then answers to other questions will appear, too”. According to Voronin, the events in Chisinau were developing according to the scenario of all coloured revolutions. At the stairs to the Presidency, a full-height photograph was taken of a handsome young man — one of the organizers of the first coloured revolution in Belgrade, when president Milosevic was overthrown, Vladimir Voronin stressed. (Source: Infotag)

On Wednesday, in a press conference on the visit’s results of the EP delegation to Moldova the members of the European Parliament who studied the post-electoral situation in Moldova, have arrived at a conclusion that an independent commission may well be set up to investigate the events in Chisinau happened after the April 5 parliamentary elections. At the same time, the European parliamentarians recommended that the State Commission, already created by President Voronin’s decree, should include also the representatives of opposition parties and non-governmental organizations “for a bigger confidence”. Delegation leader Marianne Mikko remarked that ties between Moldova and the European Union will be much better if the local authorities and the opposition observe democratic freedoms. French parliamentarian Anne-Marie Isler Beguino said a European investigation commission must be set up that would be totally independent. Romanian deputy Marian-Jean Marinescu has also stressed the expediency of establishing a European investigation commission. (Source: Infotag)

“Instead of requesting media outlets and nongovernmental organisations to justify their critical reporting, the government authorities should encourage victims and witnesses to come forward and contribute to the investigations,” says the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg, after a visit to the Moldovan capital during April 25–28, 2009. The commissioner noted that the policemen who participated in the ill-treatment of the arrested people, as well as their superiors should be punished. More than three hundred persons were arrested in Chisinau, Moldova, in connection with the post-electoral demonstrations in early April. A significant number of them were subjected to ill-treatment, some of which was sever. This was the conclusion of Commissioner Th. Hammarberg. The commissioner noted that, though the majority of demonstrators had behaved peacefully, some of the protesters used violence and committed acts of vandalism. The riot control measures appeared to be largely ineffective. The files studied by the Commissioner’s medical expert contained records of injuries which were consistent with the accounts of physical ill-treatment given by the people who had been in police custody. The Commissioner’s official interlocutors accepted that the police had abused their powers in the aftermath of the protests when dealing with persons deprived of their liberty. (Source: Interlic)

The national and regional public broadcasters “Teleradio-Moldova” and “Teleradio-Gagauzia” covered the elections by deviating from the legal provisions and ethical norms. This is one of the conclusions reached by 10 media and human rights NGOs, which monitor the implementation of the Audiovisual Code, under the aegis of the Electronic Press Association (APEL). The monitoring report on TV broadcasts and news programs presenting political actors from February 4 until April 5 2009 was presented on Thursday in a press conference. The authors find that both public broadcasters displayed a partisan attitude toward certain political actors and, particularly, toward the ruling party and the PCRM representatives. Through their conduct during the race, the public broadcasters funded from public money were far from serving the public interest. In fact, the public broadcasters polished the image of the governance and denigrated the Communists’ opponents, the monitors find. (Source: Info-Prim Neo)