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The Central Electoral Commission has adopted a decision to set additional tasks for certain ministries in order to better ensure the holding of the July 29 early parliamentary elections. Under this decision, the Interior Ministry will be in charge with ensuring personal security of all candidates registered on electoral lists of the parties running for elections. As well, the Interior Ministry will maintain the order on the Election Day, combat electoral offences and accompany electoral functionaries to carry the ballot papers. The Foreign Ministry will contribute to accrediting foreign journalists to cover the electoral process and will assist the CEC in organizing elections at the polling stations outside of Moldova. The Information and Security Service will make and destroy the matrix of the ballot papers. (Source: Moldpres)

A commission of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) will soon arrive in Moldova on the invitation of the parliamentary opposition to monitor the upcoming election campaign, including the behavior of public broadcasters. This announcement was made Friday at a press conference held by the Political Council for Dialogue and Cooperation formed by three opposition parties — the Liberal Party (PL), the Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova (PLDM), and the Moldova Noastra Alliance (AMN). The PACE’s commission comes after a visit of the opposition parties to Strasbourg at the start of this week where the opposition politicians informed the European officials about the situation in Moldova after the April 5 elections. The representatives of the Political Council for Dialogue and Cooperation said that Josette Durrieu, co-rapporteur of the Council of Europe for Moldova, is recommending the European authorities to send a “strong and enlarged” delegation to Moldova. The trio also announced a new resolution by the European officials is going to be made in autumn assessing the implementation of the European Parliament’s Resolution of May 7. (Info-prim Neo)

On Friday, the Election Observation Mission deployed by the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) to observe the early parliamentary elections in Moldova, has formally started its activity. Ambassador Boris Frlec, the Head of the OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission, said at a press conference that the mission consists of 13 international experts. Another 20 long-term observers will join them next week. Later, two hundred short-term observers will come to Moldova to monitor the Election Day of July 29. Boris Frlec said the experts would thoroughly follow the work of local election organs, the mass media, electoral legislation observance, the voting and vote-count processes. The mission’s conclusions will be presented in two interim reports, with a final report to follow 8 weeks after the Election Day. He stressed the mission’s role is to follow and state the election situation in Moldova, not to interfere into it, “because the mission is not electoral police”. (Infotag)

The parties which formed the Political Council for Dialogue and Cooperation — Liberal Party (PL), Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova (PLDM) and “Moldova Noastra” (Our Moldova) Alliance (AMN) — will provide election fraud evidence to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). Legislators Veaceslav Untila (AMN), Corina Fusu (PL) and Alexandru Tanase (PLDM) made this announcement at a press conference on Friday. (Source: Deca-press)

Young members of the “Moldova Noastra” (Our Moldova) Alliance organized a flash-mob in front of the Interior Ministry on Friday. They carried banners such as “Down with Mafia!”, “Down with Dictatorship!”, “Down with Torture!”, “Do not intimidate people!”. “We are here because we make common cause with the protests held today around the world on the Anti-Torture Day,” said Alexandrina Robu, a participant in the flash mob. “Young AMN members support the people who suffered here, in Moldova, after the April 7 events, as well as make common cause with all victims of inhuman treatments in general,” said Leonid Bujor, a candidate on the AMN list. Bujor noted that the flash-mob aims to prove to Minister Gheorge Papuc that “young people are not afraid.” The action lasted ten minutes. The young people whistled and shouted “Down with Dictatorship!” (Info-Prim)

Igor Dodon, number 6 on the Party of Communists (PCRM) list for parliament, has replied to recent statements made by opposition politicians and economic analysts, who criticize the Government’s economic policies. At a press conference on Friday, the first deputy premier and economy minister, suspended from office, complained about losing “the political stability, which was an advantage of Moldova in attracting foreign investments”. Igor Dodon has used a term from the Russian slang — “glamorous analysts” — to show his depreciative attitude towards his critics. He has affirmed that there are no problems in paying the social payments. (NA: On the eve, officials from Banca de Economii declared the Social Insurances National Corporation had not transferred them the money.) Dodon was glad that the forecasts of the ’glamorous analysts’ during the previous electoral race, who predicted the leu would fall immediately after the elections, did not turn true. Tackling the Investprivatbank topic, Dodon has said the deposit holders will become clients of Banca de Economii (BEM), the only bank that have shown interest to take over the assets and debts of the insolvent bank. (Info-Prim)

The Social Democratic Party and the Centrist Union of Moldova have decided to run together in early elections, their leaders Dumitru Braghis and Vasile Tarlev — both being former Prime Ministers of Moldova — have announced at a press conference. Braghis declared that the Social Democrats continue to believe that only a united force is able to create a serious alternative to the incumbent authorities “that are incapable of cushioning up the consequences of economic crisis and thus to avoid a political crisis…”. Vasile Tarlev stated the Centrist Union of Moldova is also concerned about the current socio-political and economic situation in the country. He believes the centrist and social democratic forces ought to learn a good lesson from their own errors and to act in concert so as to provide for a “dictatorship of the law and national interests”. Both Braghis and Tarlev regretted the failed negotiations on their organizations’ unification with the Democratic Party of Moldova that is now led by the ex-Speaker, Marian Lupu. Braghis criticized Lupu for his “trying to politically corrupt the members of other parties”. Both ex-premiers said that their formations are open to unification with other parties, and that the unification process must be completed before the end of this year. (Infotag)

Marian Lupu, the former speaker keeps on refuting allegations that his coming over to the Democratic Party of Moldova (PDM) is a project of the Party of Communists, a project conceived and implemented by Mark Tkachuk, the head of the PCRM electoral headquarters (before the 2009 parliamentary campaign — the Political Advisor to Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin for several years). In his interview published today by several Chisinau papers (Jurnal de Chişinău, Timpul, Moldavskiye Vedomosti, etc.) and paid from the PDM electoral fund, Lupu stated that this “political personage (Tkachuk) as well as his capabilities are being too mythologized lately”. “There was a time, when the same used to be said about Vlad Filat — that he was allegedly a PCRM agent. And what is the truth now?” Lupu wondered. The former Chairman of Parliament recommended avoiding being victims of rumors about an alleged all-mightiness of the Party of Communists. “The Communists are strong as long as we feel afraid of standing up to oppose to them. And we will be weak as long as we believe the Communists are the only strong political force in the country. Last April’s events showed that they are fairly vulnerable, especially when they lose control of events”, said Marian Lupu. “I am not a project of the Communists’. I am their headache, and July 29 election results will show this”, he stressed. Marian Lupu is sure the Democratic Party of Moldova will enter the Parliament and the PDM shall not vote for a Communist President. (Infotag)

Iurie Rosca, Moldovan Deputy Prime Minister, leader of the Christian Democratic People’s Party has denied rumors that he had allegedly held negotiations with outgoing President Vladimir Voronin concerning his ’inheriting’ the Presidency office. Today, Rosca published a statement in his Flux newspaper saying that he had never discussed this topic with President Voronin. “This joke is aimed at bringing discord between the president and me, and to demonstrate that, allegedly, Rosca has rushed into election campaign, and keeps on boasting that he is going to become successor to Vladimir Voronin. I’ve got a feeling that two former high-ranked Moldovan statesmen stumbled precisely over their ardent desire to become a successor, and now they both have a reason for dissatisfaction, bad moods and annoyance. As for me, I have no such problems”, Rosca said. Judging by his words, he regards Voronin as a responsible and experienced politician who does not give empty promises. Rosca says he is satisfied with the place he occupies in the country’s political life, and he does not need giving such promises. “No matter who will be the next President of the Republic of Moldova, the chief thing is, the new head of state must be a decent, well-prepared person, and Moldova’s great chance will be if all parliamentarians vote for the person”, said Iurie Rosca. (Infotag)

Stefan Vlas, mayor of Horodca, district of Ialoveni, a representative of the Party of Communists (PCRM), has banned representatives of the territorial organization of the Liberal Party to make electoral propaganda, urging them to leave “his village”. By breaching the electoral legislation, the mayor cut off electricity during a movie featuring the April 7 events, presented to voters by PL. The incident took place on June 25. Vitalie Lavric, chairman of the PL Youth Organization, stated that he went to the mayoralty on the eve in order to tell the mayor that PL would organize an electoral meeting and would present a movie featuring the April 7 developments, but he was denied. Representatives of the mayoralty and PL clashed on the day when the movie should be presented. (jurnal.md)

The Liberal Party (PL) is convinced that the Government of Moldova does not have any efficient anti-crisis plan, while the measures proposed lately by the Ministry of Economy and Trade are “populist”, declared at a news conference Mihai Ghimpu, the PL leader. He said that the outgoing president Vladimir Voronin tries to conceal the effects of the looming large social-political crisis that began in the fall of 2008 by means of defaming the opposition and accusing it of destroying the Moldovan statehood. Another PL member, doctor of economics Vadim Cojocaru, stated that the weak social-economic development results in the first quarter shows that the Communist Government underestimated the negative effects of the world financial and economic crisis. He mentioned that the consequences of the economic crisis may be cushioned by the following measures: liberalize exports and lift export barriers, support the small and medium enterprises sector, honor the VAT reimbursement. As regards the financial crisis, PL considers that its impact can be lessen if the Government would optimize efficiently expenditures, ensure supplementary revenues to the budget, and implement correct regional development and tax reduction policies. (Infotag)

The Democratic Party of Moldova (PDM) call on the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova (PCRM) to stop immediately the accusative rhetoric and the differentiation of citizens between “patriots and traitors” reads a PDM statement released today. According to PD “this rhetoric undermines the Moldovan statehood” and is aimed at “creating in the county of an atmosphere of fear, hysterical patriotism, and general state of panic feed by the fear of loosing sovereignty”. (Infotag)

On the occasion of the UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, the youth organization of the Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova (PLDM) launched on Friday the “TRUTH” campaign. George Mocanu, leader of the PLDM youth organization said the goal of the campaign is to raise the awareness about the events after the April 5 elections, particularly “the arrests, torture and maltreatments of our citizens, four of which died”. George Mocanu explained that during the “TRUTH” campaign mobile groups of the young liberal democrats “will inform the population by presenting documentary video evidence of infringement of human rights, of the methods used by state institutions, police, Prosecutor General’s Office, Information and Security Service to humble and torture innocent citizens. At the same time, we will gather information from citizens that were victims of torture”. (Infotag)