Liberal, pro-Western opposition parties alleged that the Communist party tampered with voters' lists to secure its own victory in last week's parliamentary election in Moldova.
The country’s Constitutional Court ordered the Central Election Commission to carry out the recount after receiving the request from veteran Communist President Vladimir Voronin.
Voronin accused his opponents of organising violent protests as part of a coup plot fomented by Romania (EurActiv 09/04/09), but sought the recount on grounds of restoring trust. The opposition demands a new election and has distanced itself from the violence.
"The procedure will take a single day," Eugeniu Stirbu, election commission chairman, told reporters after the court ruled in favor of the recount. He said district councils would count the ballots and submit figures to the commission.
Stefan Creanga of the Liberal Democrats, one of three opposition parties to win seats in parliament, said most efforts would focus on the voters' lists.
"One day is enough to recount the votes. On election day, it was done in three hours," he said. "For us, it is more important to check the lists. We are getting copies of the lists at the moment and we’ll present a report on electoral fraud to the commission."
Opposition parties allege the lists included many names of Moldovans who have died or who work abroad, but had votes cast in their name on election day.
An eye-witness to the events, interviewed by EurActiv last week, reported rumours that ballot boxes had been substituted in the periphery of Chisinau. The eye-witness reported also "strange things happening" in the region of Balti, the second-largest city, where apparently all the farmers had come to vote after 7pm, while farmers usually vote early in the morning (EurActiv 08/04/09).
Meanwhile, the opposition staged a peaceful 5,000-strong rally on Sunday (12 April) reporting ill-treatment of arrested protesters, held since official builiding were ransacked.
Results of last week's poll gave the Communists nearly 50% and 60 seats -- one short of the number needed to ensure victory when the assembly later meets to elect the president.
Voronin, who has called for further integration with the West while preserving longstanding ties with Russia, has served two consecutive terms and cannot run again. He has said he wants to remain in some kind of decision-making role.
The president has moved closer to the Kremlin recently and applauded its efforts to help resolve an 18-year-old separatist rebellion in Moldova's Russian-speaking Transdniestria region.
Civil society warns of creeping dictatorship
"We believe that preconditions are being created for the establishment of a police and dictatorial regime in the Republic of Moldova," says a statement by a number of civil society representatives, obtained by EurActiv.
The authors state that the generally peaceful protest has been "used" to provoke violent and criminal acts resulting in the devastation of the Parliament and the President's buildings. They termed "inadmissible" the attempts by the ruling communists to present all as some kind of criminal act.
"The head of state is making extremely grave accusations against some political leaders, describing their actions as a "coup d’état", or "anti-constitutional plot" even before any investigations or court rulings in this regard. Such statements tend to further heighten the tensions and polarise the Moldovan society. By placing all the responsibility for the recent events on the political opposition and Romania, the authorities are creating an internal and external enemy, which may be used to justify the government's failures," the statement reads.
(EurActiv with Reuters.)
