About 10,000 protesters denouncing a Communist election victory in Moldova seized the president's offices yesterday, hurling computers into the street while police took cover behind riot shields. They heaped tables and chairs onto a bonfire outside parliament. Fires were also lit inside.
Opposition leaders demanded a new election to resolve the confrontation with Voronin, who accused them of seeking destabilisation and demanded an end to the "bacchanalia".
Moldovan state television said one young woman had choked to death from carbon monoxide poisoning in the parliament building. It cited a senior doctor at Chisinau emergency hospital as saying 34 other protesters had been injured, including two in a serious condition in hospital. Some 80 police officers also received treatment for injuries, the television channel said.
Most protesters are students who see no future for themselves should the Communists keep their hold on the ex-Soviet state of four million people, which is wedged between Ukraine and Romania: on the EU's border, but within what Russia sees as its sphere of influence.
Vlad Filat of the Liberal Democrats said the opposition, which broadly stands for closer ties with neighbouring Romania, was demanding the right to check all electoral lists.
"As a result of this, I can assure you that the elections were rigged and we will organise a new election."
By the end of the day, Moldovan authorities and opposition leaders agreed to recount the votes cast in Sunday's parliamentary election.
Observers say elections fair
Monitors from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said on Monday that the elections, which were monitored by 3,000 observers, were democratic and fair. Voronin used this endorsement to argue that the riots were an attempted coup and a violation of democracy.
Preliminary election results showed the Communists would secure 60 of the 101 seats in the parliament. With 61 votes they could directly elect a president, as the country's president is elected by a 3/5 majority in parliament.
However the Communists would probably need a vote or two from the other parties which made it into parliament. The Liberal Party won almost 13% of the vote, the Liberal Democrats 12%, and the Our Moldova party 10%.
Moscow offers congratulations
Russia was the first - and is the only country so far - to offer its congratulations for the elections. A Kremlin press release said that on Monday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev congratulated Voronin on the Moldovan Communist Party's victory, and said in a telephone call that "stability and continuity in Moldova's government would play an important part in ensuring continued all-round development of constructive and friendly cooperation between Russia and Moldova".
(EurActiv with Reuters.)
