Better life

Despite its own difficult domestic political scene, Romania joined the European Union in 2007, cementing its place as the best opportunity for a better life as far as Moldova’s youth is concerned. It was then no surprise that some of the protesters at the April 7 rally in Chisinau chanted slogans calling for union with Romania, giving Voronin the chance to dismiss the opposition’s claims that the elections were rigged.

By blaming Romania as the instigator of violence that wrecked most of the the presidency and parliament. Voronin has been able to dodge wide concerns about his party’s unchallenged hold on the state apparatus and government media, which remain the sole sources of information in rural areas.

Voronin does not hide his distaste for free-market policies and is an advocate of a strong state presence in the economy. For the opposition, however, that means a strong presence of a small group of oligarchs close to Voronin that control the economy. The president’s son is widely believed to be one of the richest people in the country, some opposition papers going as far as to estimate his wealth at one billion US dollars.

Status quo
Brandishing Romania as the culprit of violence, an accusation that authorities in Bucharest have vehemently denied, Voronin has also moved to cut support grass-roots from the opposition, with more than 200 people arrested after April 7, according to the police. Opposition parties and media, however, claim that hundreds more have been targeted.

School principals and universities have reportedly been asked to provide lists of students who missed classes on April 7.
Keeping the police in check during the one day when matters got out of hand, Voronin has ensured that his reputation was not tarnished by an order to shoot into the crowd. He agreed to a re-count of ballots to show the international community that the Communists had nothing to fear without addressing the opposition’s biggest claim of vote-rigging, namely that as many as 400 000 names of dead people or those living abroad appeared in voter lists and were used to pad the numbers in the Communists’ favour.

Voronin has refused a check of voter lists, countering with the statement of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe observers, which endorsed the vote as fair, even though it said campaign coverage was biased in favour of the Communists.

The opposition’s pleas for support from the EU have gone unanswered as the bloc has kept its distance from the matter, even though Moldova is one of the six former Soviet states the EU plans to cultivate closer ties with as part of its Eastern Partnership programme. Already at odds with Russia on a number of issues, Brussels is unlikely to add a new one to that list over a country that Moscow sees in its immediate sphere of influence.

With no outside support and the glare of foreign media waning, supporters of the status quo are unlikely to be moved to make more concessions. It would not be for the first time Moldova falls through the cracks either – after the short-lived war with Russian troops supporting the separatist Transnistria region in 1992 made international headlines, the conflict resolution process has made no progress.