L’opposition démocratique revendique la victoire en Moldavie

Romanian MEP Adrian Severin, who is also vice-chair of the S&D group in the European Parliament, called the elections “reasonably free and correct from a technical point of view”, but on the political side, he said that freedom has been limited, and a political debate had not taken place “within the limits, allocated to the freedom of information”. 

“We ask all regional and global political players to avoid the temptation of using Moldova as an instrument of their geopolitical ambitions. We ask the political players in Moldova to avoid exporting and internationalising the internal problems of the Republic of Moldova,” Severin stated. 

Christopher Granville, Trusted Sources Research, London, commented the fact that China signed an agreement to loan Moldova $1bn, an amount nearly tripling Moldova’s external debt and issuing a direct challenge to the US and Russia for economic and political influence in this country. 

"I think that Moldova is interesting as a pawn in a larger geopolitical competition and its domestic politics get viewed very much through this prism […] The very large scale financing from China that was announced last week, has the effect of almost transcending the domestic political world because the traditional competition between Russian and Euro-Atlantic-oriented forces seems irrelevant when there's a third outside party that's prepared to come in and support the country on a scale undreamt of in Moscow, Brussels or Washington to date," Granville said. 

Alexei Vlasov, political analist from the Moscow State University, acknowledged that Moscow was interested in Voronin's victory as "a factor in maintaining stability". 

“Voronin in recent months showed he was open to a political direction favorable to Russia. But as long as the Communists are not completely defeated, I think Moscow will be interested in Moldova's quick escape from this political crisis. In principle, if a coalition between the Communists and the opposition were formed, I don't think Moscow would view this too negatively," Vlasov said. 

Bogdan Tirdea, independent political analyst from Chisinau, stressed that the main result of this election is that the Communists were finally defeated by the liberal opposition. 

“One can hardly overestimate the importance of this -- despite all of the Communists' clamorous statements and this open support by Russia, they still received less votes than in April. Second, a 'purely democratic government' may be formed. But the liberals still won't be able to elect their own president. In conditions of crisis, when the budget coffers are empty and it is far from clear if Moldova gets the promised Chinese and Russian loans, the situation will simply become precarious. We may have a new early election, and its results will really be unpredictable, because democrats may have already discredited themselves by this time," said Tirdea. 

Sam Greene, deputy director of Carnegie Moscow center, warned that the communists should not be underestimated. 

"The communists clearly remain the single biggest party in parliament and the most powerful political force in the country and even if they lose domination of parliament, and the presidency, their networks and their mastery of the apparatus of the State means they would be a formidable opposition force. 

It would not be their first time in opposition. The reality is that anybody who comes to power, any coalition, is going to have to find some kind of accommodation with the communists and that will, to a certain extent, shape how the coalition is formed,” Greene said. 

Stelian Tanase, political commentator from Bucharest, regretted that the opposition had not better cooperated.

"The opposition was wrong to not be more determined in this election, they did not collaborate and it shows. As it is, the result is a success but not as big as would have been preferred. I think Chisinau will enter a period of tactical discussions. The opinion of the European Union matters very much. It matters very much to pay attention to Moscow's and Kiev's reaction. Bucharest's reaction matters less because there are all these suspicions," he stated, as quoted by Reuters.

Javier Solana, EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), made the following comments after the repeated parliamentary elections in Moldova: "I welcome the conduct of the repeated parliamentary elections in the Republic of Moldova which met many of the international standards, albeit some negative aspects persisted. The electorate has given its verdict."

"It is now up to the leaders of the political forces in Moldova to work, in the spirit of reconciliation and in a speedy and inclusive manner, towards the election of a new President and the formation of a new governing coalition, bringing the country out of the political crisis. The Republic of Moldova should regain political stability. Good governance is of utmost importance, not least due to the challenges faced by Moldova in the context of the global financial crisis. The European Union remains ready to assist the country face important political and economic challenges," he added.

"I am encouraged by the conduct of these elections. Many OSCE commitments were met, but important challenges remain if the lack of trust among the country's political parties and voters is to be overcome so that Moldova's democracy can continue to improve," said Petros Efthymiou, head of the delegation Parliamentary Assembly of the Organisation for security and cooperation in Europe  (OSCE PA).

"I welcome the active participation of voters in this election, which is a good signal for democracy in Moldova. However, voters must feel confident with the entire election process," said Mevlüt Cavusoglu, head of the delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

"The inaccuracy of the voters lists has once again exposed weaknesses and an urgent need for major improvement. The voters of Moldova have expressed their will; it is now time for the country's political forces to demonstrate their ability for constructive political dialogue and power-sharing," he added.

"We cannot say, unfortunately, that these elections complied with all international criteria," deplored MEP Marian-Jean Marinescu, head of the delegation of the European Parliament.

"However, the overall assessment of election day is positive. Yet, without structural democratic change, Moldova will not be able to meet its challenges. The way forward is not less but more democracy. On this road, the EU will be on the side of Moldova," he said .

"It is encouraging that this election was run overall professionally and efficiently. But the deep-rooted mistrust among the contestants during the campaign underscores the pressing need for all parties to engage in a meaningful dialogue to overcome the blockade of the democratic process and tackle the manifold challenges Moldova is facing," said Ambassador Boris Frlec, Head of the election observation mission of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).

The European Parliament president Jerzy Buzek congratulated "the people of Moldova for their numerous participation in the parliamentary elections." As I have learned from the preliminary findings of the International Election Observation Mission (IEOM), [...] the election has been well administered and conducted in a calm manner", he said in a statement.

"However [the way the elections were carried out] reiterates the need to continue the democratic process which is still far from complete and in particular to restore trust between the major political forces," he added.

"Moldova is a member of the new European Union initiative, the Eastern Partnership", he stressed. "This is a tool which encourages deeper and closer cooperation of our Eastern neighbours with the EU. It should be seen as a great opportunity."