alegeri.md

The next Parliament of Moldova is going to have only 4 factions — of the Party of Communists, Liberal Party, Democratic Party, and Liberal Democratic Party, according to the Public Opinion Barometer poll, carried out recently by the Institute for Public Policy and presented in Chisinau today. The Barometer was held on June 26 through July 10 and covered 1,534 people. The poll authors said its error did not exceed 2.5%. The poll showed that had the parliamentary elections been held on the nearest Sunday, the ruling Party of Commuists would receive 31.1% (last March, the figure was 36.5%), the Liberal Party — 13.2% (8.2%), the Democratic Party — 9.6% (0.7%), and the Liberal Democratic Party — 7.2% (8.3%). The “Moldova Noastra (Our Moldova)” Alliance would receive only 2.6%, the Social Democratic Party — 1%, and the Christian Democratic People’s Party — 0.9%. Asked “Which party you will not vote for in whatever case?” twenty-two percent pollsters stated they would never vote for the Party of Communists, 12.8% — for the AMN, 10.2% — for the PLDM, 9.5% — for the Liberal Party, 9.2% — for the PPCD, and 3.6% — for the PD. Almost every 4th respondent presumes the early parliamentary elections were vitally necessary for Moldova, and 22.8% — vice versa. Forty-three percent interviewed people stated the April 5 elections were neither free nor correct, and nearly the same proportion of people had a diametrically different opinion. The poll revealed that nearly 80% citizens of Moldova will go to the polls on July 29, and only 5% stated they would not. Last April 5, only four political parties won seats in the Parliament of Moldova — the Party of Communists, Liberal, Liberal Democratic parties and the “Moldova Noastra (Our Moldova)” Alliance. The Democrats polled 2.97%. Then, the electoral barrier was 6%, and presently — 5%. (Infotag)

The OSCE Special-Coordinator for the July 29 parliamentary elections in Moldova, Petros Efthymiou (Greece), concluded a three-day pre-visit to Moldova last week, in preparation for the international observation mission for the elections. “In all my meetings — with Acting President Voronin, with senior officials, and with political party leaders — I stressed the responsibility to ensure that Moldova live up to its international commitments to hold free and fair elections in which all contestants compete on a level playing field,” Mr. Efthymiou says in a statement. He noted changes to legislation and regulations that partly address OSCE recommendations regarding elections but added that “important challenges remain.” Referring to the joint statement of preliminary conclusions issued by the International Election Observation Mission to the April 5 parliamentary elections in Moldova, Mr. Efthymiou pointed out that the three areas highlighted in that statement are relevant to these elections as well. “First, serious efforts are needed ensure the voter’s lists are accurate and are displayed for public verification on time,” he said. Second, he stressed to officials the need to ensure there is no abuse of administrative resources in the electoral process. He noted allegations of intimidation by police. Third, he remarked that despite some changes in the media coverage of the campaign, there is still space for the media environment to achieve greater pluralism and ensure equal access for all political forces in Moldova. (Infotag)

The president of the Independent Journalism Center (IJC) in Gagauzia Stepan Piron, who is a member of the Gagauz District Electoral Council, has said that the Party of Communists (PCRM) started to persecute and intimidate him after he submitted a number of applications to the Council, accusing the party of illegally placing election posters. “The members of the Council promised to take measures to remove the irregularities. But, in two days, I started to be threatened and intimidated. Also, there were carried out inspections at two companies that I head — the joint company «Media», which provides cable TV services, and the television studio TV-2 Comrat,” Stepan Piron said at a news conference on Monday. “I suppose these searches are connected with the applications filed to the District Electoral Council in Gagauzia, which say that the PCRM violates the Electoral Code by placing electoral ads in forbidden places,” Piron said, adding that the authorities started to attack the two media institutions because they broadcast news items “that the Communists don’t like”. Stepan Piron also said that two legal cases were opened against him, a criminal one and an administrative one, and that they try to close the two media outlets. According to Piron, the PCRM representatives try to make him keep silent. (Info-Prim)

More than 45 percent of the respondents of the Public Opinion Barometer poll released on Monday consider that the protests which followed the April 5, 2009 elections were groundless. Twenty-five percent say that they were justified at a certain extent, and 14.6 percent consider that the protests were perfectly justified. Asked what they think about the events concerned, more than 50 percent said that “it was a well-staged attempt to overthrow the government,” 30.3 percent described them as “peaceful protests at the beginning which further turned into storming of the Presidency and Parliament buildings”. Just 3.4 percent of the respondents described the events concerned as peaceful protests. According to 27 percent of the respondents, the opposition parties are to blame for what had happened. Nearly 27 percent consider that the ruling party was the No.1 guilty, more than 7 percent indicated young people, and 5.8 percent said that it was somebody from abroad. As well, the respondents think that the authorities have reacted accordingly to the facts, 25.4 percent said their reaction was too bitter, and 23.2 percent said it was too docile. The poll also reveals that the majority of Moldovan population fears that Moldova was seriously hit by the global financial crisis and only 5.2 percent is confident that Moldova was not hit at all. As well, the survey shows that more than 67 percent of Moldova’s residents (by 7 percent more than in April 2009) fear that the things in Moldova go wrong. More than 26 percent are very angry with the current economic situation in Moldova, nearly 40 percent are not too satisfied, 22.5 percent are neither content nor discontent, and 7.5 percent are content. (Infotag)

Ex-Speaker Marian Lupu, who left the governing Communist Party about 2 months ago, was elected Chairman of the Democratic Party at a party congress held in Chisinau on July 19. The congress elected Dumitru Diacov, who had headed the party last 13 years, as Honorable Chairman of the organization. For this, the delegates introduced a special amendment to the DP Charter, according to which an honorable chairperson is elected lifelong “for special merits before the party”. Diacov stated that Lupu’s coming to the DP leadership “should lead to renovation of the party. Marian Lupu is 14 years younger than me, and I am glad he has come to a consolidated party and is ready for struggle”. Lupu has called Dumitru Diacov’s act as one deserving respect and one that should lead to renovation of the Moldovan political class. (Infotag)

At about midnight last Saturday, the Deputy Chairman of the oppositional Liberal Party, Chisinau Mayor Dorin Chirtoaca was detained by the Moldovan police on grounds of violating the Code of Administrative Offenses. Chirtoaca was detained in the Chisinau suburban village of Bacioi in a company of Vitalie Salaru, the head of the LP’s territorial Bacioi organization, immediately upon the completion of a meeting with voters there. Both men were delivered to the local police station. There, officers stated the Liberals had violated the new Code of Administrative Offenses, according to which public meetings may be held not later than till 10pm. (Infotag)

The Liberal Party maintains the eight years of the Communist rule have devastated a majority of the Moldovan populace, who currently live below the poverty level. PL Deputy Chairman and Chisinau Mayor Dorin Chirtoaca stated at a news conference today that when the communists have come into the state power, they promised to create minimum 300 thousand jobs and open a number of new enterprises. “Where are the jobs and enterprises? The Communists are continuing telling lies to the citizenry — that the average monthly wage in the economy’s real sector exceeds 3 thousand lei”, Chirtoaca said. The Liberal Party leaders are convinced that poverty will only aggravate in Moldova if the Communist remain in power. (Infotag)

The Democratic Party of Moldova implements a program based on promoting the country’s interests, and in this work the party is counting on the Socialist International’s assistance, DP Chairman Marian Lupu stated at a news conference today. He said the Democratic Party seeks to get integrated into the Socialist International in order to enlist its support. He voiced hope this objective will be reached already in the nearest future. Elected as DP Chairman as recently as July 19, Marian Lupu said the party’s cooperation with the Socialist International will promote the achievement of the DP’s goal — the Republic of Moldova’s accession to the European Union. Former German Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chairman of the Socialist International’s Commission for Economic Policy and Social Unity Christoph Zopel said during the news conference he had come to Moldova to attend the July 19 congress of the Democratic Party, at which Marian Lupu was elected as Democratic Party Chairman. In Zopel’s words, all Socialists of the world showed interest to the Chisinau congress as to a possibility of distributing social democratic ideas in Moldova — a country with a totalitarian past. Christoph Zopel emphasized the April 7 events in Chisinau went contrary to Social Democrats’ convictions in the sphere of human right observance. (Infotag)

By means of its public opinion polls, the Institute of Public Policy simply manipulates the public opinion, maintains “Moldova Noastra (Our Moldova)” Alliance (AMN) leader Serafim Urechean. He stated at a news conference today that the Institute of Public Policy had always infringed on the Alliance’s interests and political image “but fortunately the IPP findings or forecasts have never come true”. Urechean stressed IPP findings invariably differ substantially from the results received recently by other analogous institutions such as e.g. the Moldovan Association of Sociologists and Demographers and the Gallup. The latest Gallup poll, for instance, showed that the “Moldova Noastra (Our Moldova)” Alliance is going to win 11–12% on July 29, “and this figure tends to be growing each day”. The AMN leader believes the Institute of Public Policy is working for the Communists, so its opinion polls should not be taken seriously. Urechean even offered a bet to the IPP: if the AMN wins mandates in the next Moldovan Parliament, the Institute of Public Policy should swear it would never more hold opinion polls in Moldova. (Infotag)

The PLDM car endowed appropriately for the public presentation of the party report on the April 5 elections was assaulted. The incident took place early on July 19, PLDM leader Vlad Filat told a news conference on Monday, July 20. Seven individuals threw stones and broke the windscreen of the car. The individuals escaped when guardians arrived on the scene, leaving some bottles of inflammable which they wanted to use to set the car on fire, Filat noted. “The address where the car was parked was known just by PLDM officials and municipal police officers. We fear that the police gave the information or even organised the incident,” the PLDM leader stressed. The presentation should take place in the Great National Assembly Square. In turn, PCRM member Grigore Petrenco rejected the accusations and said that PLDM should bring concrete evidence and then accusations against PCRM. (Info-Prim)

The “Moldova Noastra (Our Moldova)” Alliance (AMN) says the Party of Communists (PCRM) is up to fixing the early parliamentary elections on July 29. “The falsification is already in progress as most polling stations across the country haven’t yet published the voter rolls, despite a deadline set by the Central Electoral Commission for July 14”, the AMN leader, Serafim Urecheanu told at news conference on Monday. “These requirements are ignored especially by the polling stations’ chairmen who are PCRM representatives”, stated Urecheanu, citing evidence collected by AMN representatives on the ground. At the same time, Urecheanu said he possessed new evidence of electoral frauds on April 5. According to him, many signatures of the chairmen of electoral councils applied on the recordings of the April 5 elections do not match the same persons’ signatures applied on April 15, when ballots were recounted on the Communists’ initiative. “This difference is largely seen in the electoral circumscriptions whose chairmen are Communist representatives”, said Urecheanu, adding that most of these persons will occupy these posts in the July 29 elections, too. “That is why we doubt the authenticity of the upcoming elections”, he explained. The AMN leader asked the General Prosecutor’s Office to examine the signatures affixed to the recordings of April 5 and 15. Otherwise, the AMN said it would sue the Office for attempting to conceal the fraud. (Info-Prim)

The MRC Foundation with the financial assistance of the German Marshall Fund — Black Sea Trust, and jointly with the Association for Participatory Democracy ADEPT launched on July 19, 2009 the online application “Testeaza-ti Votul!” (Test Your Vote!) on the website www.testvot.eu. “Test Your Vote!” includes a 24-question survey. Any visitor to www.testvot.eu is welcome to respond to the survey, agreeing or disagreeing with the 24 affirmations. “Finally, the user will get a free and detailed graphical and textual analysis which indicates the proximity of key parties with options of electors in terms of economic, political and social issues. This way, electors will be able to learn electoral programmes of parties and cast a well-informed vote,” project developers said. The project is available both in Romanian and in Russian. (Infotag)

The top seventh candidates for MP on behalf of the Christian Democratic People’s Party suggest solutions for avoiding a possible political crisis after the elections. “Moldova is a parliamentary republic. We should complete the reform initiated in 2000 as this reform can help Moldova become a democracy like the European ones,” Victor Ciobanu, who is the second on the PPCD’s electoral list, told a news conference on July 20. For the head of state not to become a dictator his powers should be diminished. The President should not have the right to dissolve the Parliament as it is elected by the people and only the people can dissolve it, if need be. The head of state should only initiate a referendum and if the people decide that the Parliament can continue work, the head of state should resign, the PPCD candidates consider. According to them, the President’s power to propose and dismiss the Prime Minister should be transferred to the parliamentary majority. The PPCD candidates propose electing the head of state in three stages. (Info-Prim)

Some provincial radio stations and television channels are doing their utmost to spoil the Party of Communists representatives’ participation in pre-election debates, Deputy Chairman of the previous Moldovan Parliament, PCRM candidate for next forum Grigore Petrenco stated at a news conference today. He said the company that hates the Communists the most is the TV Albasat channel from Nisporeni town. “This channel systematically changes the time and topics of electoral debates and debate participants. This makes it very hard to arrive at the studio in time to thus convey the party’s electoral message to voters. Besides this, we have not yet received from this channel even a single record of live debates involving PCRM representatives. We have recorded an instance when an inscription appeared under the name of a PCRM representative saying the man belonged to another party. I don’t really think these are mere coincidences or technical faults”, Petrenco said. Among other biased broadcasters he mentioned the Vocea Basarabiei [Voice of Bessarabia] radio station and “three television channels from Gagauzia that work without a business license but demonstrate 6–7 times a day the Liberal Democratic Party’s film about the April 7 events in Chisinau”. The PCRM will shortly inform the Central Electoral Commission about these and other violations, Petrenco said. (Infotag)

The “Actiunea Europeana (European Action)” Social-political Movement (MAE) is asking Moldova’s outgoing president Vladimir Voronin to either confirm or deny reports regarding the establishment of a federative Moldovan republic, allegedly agreed upon with Russian president Dmitry Medvedev at their latest meeting. “Considering this information, as well as the fact that the Communists Party and you yourself are stated advocates of the statehood, we solicit you to urgently clarify the public opinion on the truthfulness of this information. If you fail to do so, we shall assume that all this information is true. Which will be another reason for the Moldovan citizens to vote against a party which ignores their interests”, the MAE said in an open letter to Vladimir Voronin. After reading the letter at a news conference on Monday, MAE’s leader Anatol Petrencu explained he possessed information that Voronin had agreed with Medvedev to change the name of the state, transform it into two states with equal rights — Moldova and Transnistria, to outlaw the seal and the tricolor flag, and to shift to the Cyrillic script, while making Russian the second official language. (Info-Prim)

The Moldovan Organisation of Veterans (OVRM) invites the electorate to vote for the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova headed by incontestable leader Vladimir Voronin on July 29. OVRM adopted Sunday the resolution “Civic duty of veterans and retirees from the Republic of Moldova” to call for contribution to keeping the independence and developing the multinational Moldovan statehood. “Us, veterans, we realise best of all the importance of the PCRM programme on building a social state, and we do not accept the policy of the opposition, which needs neither a building work, nor a worthy life for the elderly, happy future for our children and grandchildren ,” reads the resolution voted unanimously by all participants in the meeting. (Omega)

The Social Democratic Party considers that the activities of the importers, which act under the protection of the Communist authorities, ruin the Moldovan agricultural producers, PSD Leader Dumitru Braghis said at a news conference on Monday. He said that agricultural crops, grown in Moldova, are appeared at the local market, because of imported products. He remarked that Moldova has food wheat reserve from the last year and may conclude special wheat export contracts for favorable prices with other countries, for example, with China, which is affected by the food crisis. In his opinion, in order to sell local products on favorable prices, the Government must give permission for opening production lines for the processing and packing of local products, in accordance with the European standards. (Infotag)

The Central Electoral Commission (CEC) Saturday approved the form of the ballots that will be used in the July 29 legislative elections. The ballot will be divided into nine quadrilaterals where there will be written the election runners and will be 26.5 cm long and 14 cm wide. The electoral contenders will be written with capital letters in the order fixed by the CEC by draw. At the same meeting, the CEC accepted the National Liberal Party’s application to be withdrawn from the electoral race. If other parties file such applications before the elections, they will be present on the ballots, but the stamp “withdrawn” will be put beside them. The CEC will print over 2.5 million ballots. The number is not yet definitive as not all the electoral districts compiled and sent the lists with the exact number of voters. (Info-Prim)