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Europe
Moldova votes for parliament amid Russian discontent
2005-03-06
CHISINAU - Moldova votes for a new parliament Sunday with the election likely to place the impoverished nation firmly on a pro-European path, the third ex-Soviet republic to turn away from Moscow's influence in little over a year. Voters will choose deputies for a 101-seat parliament that will then elect the president of the country sandwiched between Ukraine and Romania, considered to be Europe's poorest, with per capita gross national product barely 600 dollars.

The Communists, who hold 71 seats in the outgoing chamber, are considered the front-runners in a field of nine parties, two blocs and a dozen individual candidates.
Maybe that's why they're the poorest nation in Europe.
Like their main competitors—the centrist Bloc for Democratic Moldova (BDM) and nationalist Popular Christian Democratic Party (PPCD) -- the Communists avow themselves as pro-Western, with voters having a choice between the degrees of Eurocentrism. With BDM in favor of keeping closer ties to Russia and the PPCD favoring Moldovan entry into the NATO alliance, the Communists find themselves in the middle of the road, garnering between 49 and 62 percent of voters' support, according to the latest opinion polls.

Although the Communists came to power in 2001 on a pro-Russia ticket, they have since done an about-face, partly because of disagreements with Moscow over its troop presence in the separatist region of Trandsdniestr, which Russia has tacitly supported ever since it broke away from Chisinau after a short war in 1992.

Tensions between Chisinau and Moscow have increased ahead of the vote, with Moldova refusing entry to dozens of Russians who presented themselves as election observers on the eve of the poll. Moldova has accused Russia of encouraging Transdniestr activists to stage provocations during the election and had expelled dozens of Russians out of the country in the weeks ahead of the vote.

Russia has fumed at the change in its former satellite, which was historically part of Romania and over which Moscow took away from the Romanians assumed influence at the end of World War II. "I can't remember the last time that I heard from Moldova President (Vladimir) Voronin a positive proposal, a positive assessment of relations between Russia and Moldova," Russian parliament speaker Boris Gryzlov said on the eve of the vote.
And you aren't going to, either.
After an "orange revolution" in its eastern neighbor Ukraine late last year, all eyes turned to Moldova, with many wondering if it will become the third ex-Soviet republic to hold a peaceful "people power" revolution. "In 10 days Moldova has the opportunity to place its democratic credentials beyond doubt as its people head to the polls," US President George W. Bush said in late February.

But most observers dismiss such a possibility, saying the Communists have been careful not to give the opposition a reason to launch the mass protests that helped bring down regimes in Georgia and Ukraine.
Posted by:Steve White

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