alegeri.md

The new Moldovan Parliament convened in its first session on Tuesday, May 5, in the Palace of Republic. 98 of those 101 MPs elected turned up. Andrei Stratan (PCRM), Veaceslav Platon (AMN) and mayor of Chisinau Dorin Chirtoaca (PL) did not attend the session, but the latter one had announced he would give up his mandate. The parliamentarians honored the state flag and anthem and took note of the decision of the Constitutional Court about validating the April 5 elections, read by the chairman of the Constitutional Court, Dumitru Pulbere. The session was conducted by the oldest parliamentarian, the Communist Ivan Calin, aged 74. “From this moment, the 17th Parliament is considered legally instituted,” Calin said. In his speech, Calin said the elections were fair, transparent, democratic, well organized and unfolded in accordance with the Election Code. At the same time, he says the April 6–8 events have nothing to do with the elections. “The enemies of the statehood have been preparing a coup d’etat for years, meant not only to destroy the statehood, but also to attach the country to another state,” Calin said. Calin has said the early elections are not justified by the economic, political and social situation in Moldova. Immediately after his discourse, the oldest parliamentarian, who chaired the session, declared it closed. The next sitting was announced for Tuesday, May 12, when the Parliament’s leading bodies will be elected. (Source: Info-Prim Neo)

The opposition says it will not participate in voting and will not put forward candidates for elected parliamentary posts. The three parties -PL, PLDM and AMN — are also decided not to take part in the election of the President of Moldova as they want early elections. “We will not participate in the election of the Speaker and Deputy Speakers and will accept no post. We will not allow ourselves to be persuaded and will make everything possible that the comrades not to get the 61 seat so that we could have early elections,” the leader of the Moldova Noastra Alliance (AMN) Serafim Urecheanu said after the first Parliament sitting. The leaders of the three parties expressed indignation at the way that the constituting sitting was held. They consider that the Party of Communists (PCRM), which holds most of the seats, decided to postpone the election of the Parliament’s executive until next week because they do not have candidates for these posts and are looking for the single vote they need to elect the head of state. “Even if the legal requirement to constitute the Parliament was fulfilled, the Communists resorted to a stratagem in order to continue the talks inside the PCRM, as at least the Speker of Parliament was to be elected today,” said Vlad Filat, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova (PLDM). “I believe the Communists are not unanimous as regards the candidates for Speaker and President of the country,” he added. On the other hand, the Communist MP Vladimir Turcan told the reporters that the constitution meeting was held in accordance with the Regulations of the Parliament. According to him, the next sitting was scheduled for May 12 so that all the political groups manage to put up candidates for the elected posts. (Source: Info-Prim Neo)

The way the first sitting of the new Parliament developed seems symptomatic to leaders of opposition factions. According to opposition leaders, the fact that the communist legislators changed their mind to elect a Parliament chairman and leading bodies of the legislature at the Tuesday sitting proves that the things do not go very well inside the Party of Communists. “I think that this morning after consultations inside the party Voronin did not garner 52 mandates to be elected speaker and thus they urgently cancelled the sitting, postponing the election of the Parliament chairman for the 12th of May,” the leader of the Moldova Noastra (Our Moldova) Alliance, Serafim Urechean, stated. In his turn, the chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party, Vlad Filat, said that at least a head of the Parliament should be normally elected on Tuesday. “I am sure that the communists do not agree on a new speaker and candidature of the chief of state. There is no other explanation,” Filat noted. The leader of the Liberal Party, Mihai Ghimpu, supposed that the communist faction could look for votes of the opposition to elect a chairman of the Parliament or a prime minister. Contacted by journalists, Communist Deputy Victor Stepaniuc said that a speaker and leading bodies of the Parliament were not elected on Tuesday because this was not planned. (Source: jurnal.md)

According to the chairman of the Constitutional Court, Dumitru Pulbere, “the viability of the legislature will depend on efforts of each parliamentary faction, each lawmaker to overcome the conflict situation.” “The fact that the Parliament convenes in the first sitting inspires us with confidence that political dissensions will be settled. Finding a compromise should be the No.1 issue on agenda, with this desideratum concerning both the majority and the minority factions. A political consensus could be achieved by fairly distributing offices, accepting reasonable legislative initiatives through reciprocal ceding,” Pulbere told the opening of the first sitting of the newly-elected Parliament. In this regard, the CC chairman continued, “making a working ambiance in the Parliament” is possible by “subordinating party interests to national interests,” as well as “assessing fairly and unbiased the events related to the parliamentary elections.” (Source: Omega)

“I don’t think a compromise between the authorities and opposition is impossible”, European Union Special Representative for Moldova Kalman Mizsei stated on the ProTV-Chisinau channel on Monday night. He stressed, compromise is a chief European value, and those asserting that there is no compromise do not respect the European values. “The European Union’s efforts are constantly aimed at reconciliation of both sides. They ought to sit at negotiating table and discuss mutual accusations. The fact that all parliamentarians have got their MPs mandates indicates that the post-election situation is acquiring a legitimate character”, said Kalman Mizsei. He presumes, however, that dialog between the ruling party and opposition does not yet serve a guarantee that the opposition will take part in electing president. Mizsei reckons Moldova should neither conceal all its problems, nor should exaggerate them, and political players need to demonstrate responsibility in their statements. Asked who is responsible for the Moldovan society polarization after April 5, Kalman Mizsei replied the question is not in who is responsible but how to find ways for solving the conflict. “The opposition’s complaints that the election results were rigged seem to be authentic, but they need to be analyzed yet”, he said. Asked what he thinks an early parliamentary election would mean for Moldova in the current crisis conditions, Kalman Mizsei replied that any election is an expensive enterprise, like democracy is. “Money are important, but not in this circumstances. The EU is based on the rule of law”, he stressed. The European official also added that the more intensive Moldova’s European integration is, the sooner the problems pertaining to swindling with voter rolls, media freedom, abusing of administrative resources will disappear. (Source: Infotag)

The Party of Communists has nominated Vladimir Turcan to negotiate with the opposition parties which entered the Parliament. Turcan told a press conference on Tuesday that in his quality of chairman of the state commission in charge with investigating the April 7–8, 2009 events, he will negotiate above all with opposition on issues relating to the work of this commission “inclusively those relating to the organisation of Parliament’s activity, the least for the first sittings.” He noted that the PCRM proposes first of all “to hold a normal dialogue within the Parliament.” “Secondly, we must negotiate the distribution of permanent commissions, there is a proportionality principle that means if the majority leads six commissions, the opposition will head four,” the lawmaker explained. As well, issues to be negotiated include among others the nomination of candidates to offices of deputy speakers of the Parliament and, not the last, efficient work during parliamentary sittings. He added that the Parliament’s leadership will be elected after the formation of parliamentary factions. (Source: Omega)

The Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova (PLDM) says the way in which the Constituting sitting of the 17th legislature was a cynical and dictatorial one. The PLDM leader, Vlad Filat said at a press conference that at this first sitting the Communists have shown their incapacity for a dialogue with opposition. “The speech of the PCRM MP Ivan Calin, chairing the sitting dictatorial and stalinist. He brought severe charges against the opposition, without offering the right to replies”, said the PLDM leader. According to Filat, it is raising concerns the more frequent coordination of domestic and foreign actions of the Communist government with Kremlin officials. The PLDM was to forward a series of claims to the PCRM in the first sitting. Among those: the unconditional liberation of people detained after the April 7 protests; publicly withdrawing the accusations against opposition of the alleged coup d’etat; insuring the opposition’s access to the public radio and television and the dismissal of administration of the public broadcaster “Teleradio-Moldova” and the Audiovisual Coordinating Council; setting up a parliamentary commission for investigating the April 7 events, including the members of the opposition, free media, civil society, representatives of the EU and of the Council of Europe; punishing the ones having ordered to torture citizens. The PLDM deputy chairman, Alexandru Tanase affirmed that if PCRM accepts these requirements, the social-political situation in Moldova will change completely. (Source: Infotag, Info-Prim Neo)

PCRM MP Vladimir Turcan, who is viewed by many as one of the most probable candidate to the post of Moldova’s new speaker or president, has expressed confidence that the “Communist Party will manage to find the missing vote to elect the president”. Speaking to journalists after the first session of parliament held today at the Palace of Republic, Turcan said that “this will be achieved thanks to dialogue with the opposition”. “We have already embarked on dialogue with the opposition and it will bring results. Only irresponsible people who do not care about the fate of the country and do not think about people could advocate the organization of an early election,” Turcan said. He did not rule out that opposition representatives could be invited to participate in the running of the country, including by offering it a post of deputy speaker. Asked by journalists whether the Communist Party is considering the possibility of nominating him to the post of the country’s new president, Turcan said: “I do not know.” (Source: Infotag)

The National Confederation of Trade Unions (CNSM) has called upon the members of the new Parliament for a civilized political dialogue. A statement by the confederation explains this by “the need to reach national consent for fruitful activities of the executive and presidential powers”. “The elec-tion of President and formation of the new Government must be carried out as soon as possible for taking measures on reducing the consequences of the world financial crisis for Moldova. It will also allow the social partners — Government, trade unions and the National Confederation of Moldovan Employers to begin negotiations”, the Confederation considers. In its opinion, only the political stabilization and civil peace can create favourable conditions for the country’s social and economic development, as well as for raising the population’s living standard. “We come out for a constructive dialogue between the Parliament and the trade unions, which represent the interests of 600 thousand of its members, Moldovan citizens and voters”, this CNSM’s call upon the new Parliament underlines. (Source: Infotag)

The Executive Committee of the Liberal International (IL) notes with deep concern that the recent elections in Moldova have failed to meet criteria for free and fair elections, especially in terms of validation of electoral lists, access to the media and fairness of the vote counting process. A resolution approved by this forum at the recent meeting in Vancouver (Canada) and delivered to the Moldovan media by the “Moldova Noastra” (Our Moldova) Alliance, which is about to join IL, indicates findings provided by opposition parties regarding committed frauds and seeks an independent and complete legal investigation by all courts. IL condemns the use of force before and after elections, is astonished with ill-treatments faced by detainees and their obstructed access to legal services, signalled in many reports, and demands their immediate release etc. The IL Executive Committee also seeks prompt early elections based on the consent of all political forces nationwide, under a strict international observance, in compliance with the commitments assumed by Moldova as member of many international institutions. (Source: AMN communication)

The National Youth Council of Moldova (CNTM), uniting 37 all-republican and regional youth organizations, has expressed concern about violations of human rights in Moldova, particularly the rights of young people. In a statement released by CNTM, is stated that while supporting the rights of assembly, association and expression, the CNTM condemns the acts of violence and vandalism that took place last April 7–8, as well as acts of intimidating and discriminating the youth, the forcing of students into putting their signatures under documents compelling them to take no part in protest actions. The Council also condemns expulsion or threats to expel students from educational institutions as a punishment for participating in peaceful actions of protests concerning the freedom of expression. In the Council’s opinion, the Moldovan authorities have violated the rights of the young people arrested on April 7 for their participation in the Chisinau riots, namely the right to live, the right to be protected against tortures or inhuman or humiliating treatment. The organization also condemns the intimidation of non-governmental organizations and independent institutions by the Ministry of Justice and the National Tax Inspectorate. The Youth Council called upon state institutions to stop their hostile or forcible measures against the youth and to enter into a constructive dialog with the young generation to overcome the current political crisis, and support the education program son human rights for youths. (Source: Infotag)