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The Central Electoral Commission (CEC) has announced the final results of the early parliamentary elections of July 29. The protocol will be submitted on August 7 to the Constitutional Court, which has 10 days to decide on the validity of elections. Thus, the 18th Legislature of Moldova will consist of 48 PCRM members, 18 — PLDM members, 15 — PL members, 13 — PDM and 7 — AMN members. However, the PL and AMN representatives to CEC, Roman Andries and Nicolae Raileanu, have questioned these results. According to them, the distribution of seats in the Parliament should have been the following: PCRM — 47 seats, PLDM — 17, PL — 16, PDM — 13, and AMN — 8. The CEC secretary Iurie Ciocan explained that the d’Hondt method applied by CEC for allocating seats in the Parliament is the only legal and accepted by the Election Code. Raileanu maintains, however, that this system has an error of margin of over 35%. Both Iurie Ciocan and Nicolae Raileanu presented their calculation formulae at the CEC’s sitting. “Mr. Raileanu’s formula may have a mathematical logic, but not a legal logic,” Ciocan concluded. (Info-Prim Neo)

The Republic of Moldova’s Constitutional Court has rejected the request of the Christian Democratic People’s Party’s to recount all the ballots cast during the July 29 early parliamentary elections, the Court’s press secretary Dumitru Tara told today. On Monday, the PPCD asked for the vote recount claiming that “too many violations and irregularities took place during the voting and subsequent vote count, which influenced election results”. Besides, both domestic and international observers recognized that no substantial violations, which could swing the election outcome, had been noticed on July 29. (Infotag)

The 19 election observers of Eurasia Foundation Moldova monitoring the elections abroad have reported no abnormalities at foreign polling stations. In a press release, the Foundation says that overall voter turnout increased over that of the April 5 elections at most of the monitored polling stations, except for those in Romania, where the turnout rate decreased by 13.31%. For instance, in Bologna and London, because of the large number of voters, the Central Electoral Commission decided to extend the voting procedure until 10.00 pm local time to give possibility to all voters to exercise their right to vote. National observers were present at the diplomatic missions of the Republic of Moldova in Russia, Romania, Italy, the United States, the United Kingdom, Belgium and Greece. (Info-Prim Neo)

Samuel Zbogar, Slovenian Foreign Minister and Chairman of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers, welcomed the preliminary assessment of the International Election Observation Mission stating that the parliamentary elections in Moldova on July 29 met many international standards and were run overall professionally and efficiently. He underscored, however, that such remaining problems as, e.g., lack of trust between political parties and voters, inaccuracy of voter lists, biased media coverage of the election campaign and other, will have yet to be eliminated in the future. (Infotag)

The leaders of Moldovan democratic parties have dispelled rumors that they are allegedly busy discussing each other’s functions and posts in the would-be governing coalition. The PLDM leader Vlad Filat called such media stories as “hasty and provocative ones… We are not negotiating anything of such sort. But when we really come up to this question, posts will be distributed fairly and reasonably, proceeding from the election results each party has achieved”. The AMN leader Serafim Urechean stated that Moldova’s future is more important than posts or functions. While the PDM Chairman Marian Lupu stated that the negotiators attach importance to the country’s domestic and external policies, not to division of portfolios between parliamentary parties. The PL Chairman Mihai Ghimpu stated that each of the 4 parties in question has specialists skilled enough to perform any function in the future government. (Infotag)

The Deputy Chairman of the Liberal Party, Chisinau Mayor Dorin Chirtoaca hopes the governing democratic coalition will not share the poor fate of the analogous coalition that was formed in the Chisinau Municipal Council [city legislature] following the June 2007 local elections. According to Chirtoaca the coalition in the CMC split because of Eduard Musuc — the leader of the Social Democratic Party by that time, who afterwards migrated to the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova. Chirtoaca has reaffirmed as “absolutely impossible” any cooperation between the Liberals and the Communists “because we are supposed to form a democratic coalition proceeding from our voters’ will”. In his opinion, had the voter turnout been higher on July 29, opposition parties would have won more seats in the new parliament. Among priority measures the new power must undertake, Dorin Chirtoaca mentioned putting an end to censorship and propaganda on the Moldovan television and radio, and organization of state institutions’ work strictly within the framework of law. Chirtoaca reaffirmed the Liberal Party’s intention to request the international commission to probe into the numerous instances of bruising and ill-treatment of young people by the police after the April 7 actions of protest in Chisinau. (Infotag)

The leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova (PLDM), Vlad Filat has urged the National Bank to undertake all the measures not to allow the illicit transfer of capital abroad. He told at a news conference on August 4 that “for the last 8 years, the ones doing business in Moldova have been affiliated to the government and, through abuses, through abusive takeovers of businesses, have got rich”. “During this period of time, one notices a trend of getting these resources out of the country in order to safely shelter them. Obviously this must be curbed,” Filat stated. In an appeal addressed to public servants, local councilors and mayors, employees of the law-enforcement bodies and media, the PLDM calls on them to do their duties and to insure the integrity of the state documents. The PLDM has asked the Ministry of Interior, Security and Information Service, the General Prosecutor’s Office to insure the integrity of files related to investigations or sent to courts. “We ask the media, especially the public broadcasters, to contribute to keep the calmness within society and to correctly inform the population about the political process in the country,” Vlad Filat stated. The PLDM asks the diplomatic missions accredited to Chisinau and the international institutions to use all the instruments they have in order to contribute to the civilized power transfer. When asked how the head of the state is going to be elected, since the non-Communist parties from the parliament fall short of 8 votes, Vlad Filat has said: “By secret vote and the necessary votes will be found.” The PLDM leader recommends Communist leader Vladimir Voronin to abandon politics, “because it turns into a burden for the PCRM itself.” (Info-Prim Neo)

15 opinion leaders and NGO representatives ink a joint manifesto “for a responsible and democratic government.” The message is addressed to the Liberals and Democrats having won in the snap elections of July 29, 2009. They are urged to lay the foundations of an essentially new government, able to provide European quality to the process of democratic change in Moldova. The signatories ask the new governing coalition to back the democratic objectives promoted by the civil society, with more care and responsibility. First of all they mean depoliticizing the office of the Moldovan President. The second request refers to the full and objective investigation of the April events. A special committee should be set up by the new Parliament and should probe all the evidence and accusations with the support of international experts. Other requests refer to strengthening the Parliament as the supreme representing authority, to rigorously applying the principles of the power branches’ cooperation and separation, to forming the Cabinet with necessary skills to step up the democratic reforms. Other requests refer to found upon of an Anti-Crisis National Board, to insure a favorable climate for media, to enhance the people’s trust in the public authorities and to strengthen Moldova’s status in its relation with the EU, to urgent normalize the relationships with the neighboring countries. (Info-Prim Neo)