Hi, I'm from Georgia.
I'm very interested in whats going on in your country, and here in Georgia we have very little information about Moldova.
It's interesting for me: Who is pres. Voronin - normal one, who is able to do something for the country, or the same kind as Shevarnadze, Kuchma, etc. and should resign the earlier the better?
Do you have normal opposition there? Such, that would be a good alternative to the current government?
And when do u have elections - presidentual and parliamentary. Who are the main opposition to the Communists government, and are they popular enough in Moldova?

It would be interesting and informative for me to hear the answers

Unfortunately, I am a bit tired after a day's work, but I will try to answer at least some of the questions. Before doings so, please note that the majority of the population in Moldova does not seem to agree with my interpretations of the current events in Moldova.

President Voronin is a former head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs during the Soviet times. He is known for his strong stance in what concerns dealing with situations and he is now the head of the state. He is also the secretary-general of the Communist Party in Moldova and he was elected as a president by the communist parliamentary fraction (since several years now, our president is elected by the parliament). He is a firm believer in the fact that Moldova is a state that can live on its own, that Moldovans are a distinct nation and that the "Moldovan language" exists and that it is distinct from Romanian (when in fact it isn't). The latter things are used by him to show that Moldova has little affiliation with Romania (whereas historically this is not true). Officially, he postulated that the top priority in Moldova's affairs is to join the EU, but anybody with a clear mind can see that this is just bluff and that the real orientation is towards Russia and Putin (especially since he also thinks that being in the Community of Independent States is also a priority).

To answer your second question: yes, I think Voronin and his communist gang should be ousted from power as soon as possible.

Four years ago, the oposition was extremely divided and this allowed in the end the communist party to get 3/4ths of the seats in the parliament. This time there seems to be a promising group of political parties, which could pose some problems to the ruling party. Personally, I think that the communist party will get the majority in the parliament again (albeit not as impressive as before), since their main electorate -- the old people -- seems to be satisfied with the current situation in the country.

I think that the parliamentary elections are held in November. The presidentials ones are after that, but their outcome, as I was saying before, is directly dependent on the composition of the parliament. The main oppoisition is, in my mind, formed of two parties:
1) The "Our Moldova" alliance, whose prominent leaders include the current non-communist mair of Chisinau (the capital). This is the party that, in my opinion, will get the most votes, except for the communists. The mair of Chisinau is quite popular in the capital, and since the capital is quite big, this might make a difference.
2) The Christian-Democrats, how are on the far-right of the spectrum, are constantly present in the parliament. They are very much opposed to the communists, but they are not that popular with the electorate. Normally, they get 5 to 10% of the votes.

I hope that satisfies some of your interest. Feel free to ask further questions -- we'll try to answer . By the way, if you are interested in some current news from Moldova, check out http://www.interlic.md/index.php?lang=eng (or http://www.interlic.md/index.php?lang=rus if you know Russian). The site is a bit biased (in the direction of the power), I think, but it's not that bad.

PS: disclaimer: there could be small mistakes in the historical things that I wrote there....

Doomie

Thank you very much for ur answers and useful link.

So the majority of Moldovan population still supports Voronin.
But it seems not the majority of this forum users as over 90% voted for the unification with Romania in the poll, while Voronin is for separate Moldova

Is Voronin likely to come closer to the solution of the Transnistrian conflict? And

And what about the other part of the population? As I know here were massive protest demonstrations during the last couple of years in Moldova. Is this pro-opposition young electorate as active as then, so that they could actively compete with Voronin's elder supporters at the elections?

By the way, I had no idea that Moldova has this quite rare model of forming government. Thanks for information

And what are relations between Our Moldova and Christian-Democrats. Are they at least allies, or attack each other as well as the government.
And which of them were the organisers of that protest demonstrations, which I've mentioned.

Sorry for so many questions

Thank you again

Not true.
In the the begining of 2005.

No problem

This forum is mainly populated by Romanian-speaking people, aged between 12 and 25, who are either in Moldova or somewhere outside of it (mostly in the Western Europe and the US). This is a very non-representative sample of the 'typical' Moldovan electorate, and this sample, as you rightfully mention, is quite pro-Romanian and anti-Communist.

The number of old people is about 600000 (more or less), and this represents almost a quarter of the electorate. Given that the pro-Communist electorate -- especially old people -- are much more active with the votes and that there is an extremely large number of Moldovans working illegally in other countries (unofficial estimates are at 600000 to 1mln), it is clear why the communists will be getting so many votes.

I don't think Voronin has much to say in this conflict. As the European Court of Human Rights mentioned rightfully earlier this month, the Russian Federation is actually behind the conflict and it is in its power to stop it. The ECHR even ordered Russia to stop the conflict.

If you read the latest news from the link I gave you, you'll see that Russia's puppets -- the Transdniester leaders -- are constantly provoking conflicts in the region (the latest being closing down some Romanian schools on some ridiculous grounds and then even sieging an orphanage to seal it down) and don't seem to be inclided to end the conflict any time soon.

The pro-opposition electorate -- which is mainly young -- is quite active but not as numerous, unfortunately. As far as I know, they are mainly voting for the Christian-Democrats, and this is their electorate basis. But they never get too much, given the facts about our population (see above). It is also worth noting that the earlier, pseudo-democratic, parliaments created quite some resentment towards the "democrats" and the word "democracy" is general throughout the country. Therefore the parties that are "propagating" democratic values do not enjoy much support, and people prefer the old-style nostalgic "iron hand" type of rule...

Well, it's just for electing the president...Theoretically, the president shouldn't have too much power, and the speaker of the parliament and the prime-minister should have much more influence right now. But the latter two are puppets of Voronin (the speaker is a former accountant who can't speak proper Romanian and the prime-minister is extremely bad at politics) and he is actually the one who holds the strings (even though he wasn't elected by a popular vote).

The relations are bitter. Which is I think very stupid, because this creates a bad impression for the people and is dividing the opposition -- therefore making is even easier for the communists to rule another 4 years.

Mainly the Christinan-Democrats, but other parties joined them as well.

Don't worry -- it's my pleasure, if you are actually so interested in our country.

PS: Oh, yeah, sorry about the election date... It should be February 2005, as the last ones were in February 2001. But that's a minor detail (I won't be able to participate in them anyway....)

They attack each other every time they have the oportunity (Christian-Democrats and Moldova Democrata). This is just a businnes for them: they get rich and population supports and vote for one or another, they get the power, MAFIA grows. That's the way it is: the propaganda from their newspapers and media. There they attack each other.
Christian-Democrats organized demonstrations.
Both Christian-Democrats and the majority of the liders from "Democratic Moldova" seem to play the role gave to them by russia. Those protests were nothing more than "street shows" made to distract attention from the real problems of the country - poverty and corruption. Nothing has been changed by the communists as Christian-Democrats seemed to be affraid of (language, the name of the language or history in schools). And they (Christian-Democrats and Communists get rich, but in fact they divide and give birth to hatred in the society, and the majority of people just hunger and hate each other).
Christian-Democrats and Communists share the same bread in fact. This is a CIRCUS... a bussines for them: money and power... and hunger for the people.

Just like it's in Russia, were word "democracy" is not very popular to say the least. Voronin is supported by Russian speaking old people right? So it seems the main problem is inactivity of romanian-speaking people, because despite the demographical situation, which you have spoke about, romanian speaking population is probably more numerous in Moldova (especially while Transnistira doesnt participate at the elections), than russian-speaking.

Oh, you dont know how well I can understand you . We also had idiot leaders of the country several months ago.

[quote="Gigolo"] They attack each other every time they have the oportunity (Christian-Democrats and Moldova Democrata). This is just a businnes for them: they get rich and population supports and vote for one or another, they get the power, MAFIA grows. That's the way it is: the propaganda from their newspapers and media. There they attack each other.

Too bad.
When there are such relation between the opposition parties, people say "Ah all these damn politicians are the same. It's no sense to support any of them". When the communist's supporters are mobilized, and activity of romanian-speaking people is required to defeat communists, such situation in opposition is a disaster.

And is any of the opposition leaders good alternative to the communists? Communist government is bad, but are the the politicians amog the opposition, who would govern better?

Yeah, and another question . What are ur relations with Ukraine? Do they support separatists in Transnistria? If yes, then is it because of their current government and this can change when Yushenko comes, or is it general tendency of Ukranian policy, cause those transnistrians are also slavs?

Voronin makes part from the former communist nomenclature and his political behaviour is just as it is expected to be. He and his communist party-mates are obedient to Russia's interests in our region and it seems that he cares more about these russian interests than about his nation. He even refuses to recognize that our language is called Romanian and that we are a part of the Romanian nation. Despite the point of view of historians and linguists he claims that we are Moldovans and we speak the Moldavian language. By the way, our president is also the leader of the communist party, which has the most representatives in our Parliament. That means that the administrative structures of our country aren't independent. [Sorry for this weird way of English use... ] Maybe I don't understand something but it seems to me that the conflict with the separatists from Transistria could be settled down far ago and the responsibles could be judged. But, again, our ruling elite is more concerned about Russia's interests than our own.

Our opposition seems active but doesn't have enough support from the people. Their supporters are mostly between the youth. The opposition is a minority in the Parliament and thus they aren't influent.

And just to express in a few words what I think about the political situation in my country, I must say that it makes me really sick. It seems to follow some scenarios dictated from abroad. Personally, I have the feeling that I cannot change anything.

Usually I don't post to political topics because I'm not really fond of politics but I was pleased to find out that there are people from abroad who are interested about Moldova.

__________________
The severity of the itch is inversely proportional to the ability to scratch it.

Exactly!

If there is a party that could defeat the comunist, than this is the new created party: "Democratic Moldova" ("Our Moldova"+ Social-Liberal Party and other center-oriented partyes has recently joined and formed "Democratic Moldova" meant to defeat the comunists at the elections in the begining of 2005 . The lider is the mair of Chisinau. He is suported by West and I believe also by Moscow.

Personaly, I believe that those who will give their vote to Christian-Democrats (who never had more than 7-10 %), they will in fact help the communists to come again to power.
I don't believe that Christian-Democrats and Moldova Democrata will form an coalition.
The lider of Christian-Democrats just like the communists didn't like the idea of creation of that anti-communist Alliance and was very dissapointed when this happened in that day. In fact his reaction was the same as the raction of the communists in the interviews at the TV.
As I said: the mafiotic liders of Christian-Democrats share the same bread as the communists and all this circus must stop once and for all.

If Ukraine will decide to join Nato and UE, then it has no other option than helping us to reunite our country.
Yes, in the war in 1992 Ukraine helped the separatists and had the same interestst as Russia there.
Yes, you're right, those slavs (russian+ukrainians; the so called russian speakers or Rusofons from which make part also poles or bulgars ), they are expected to be 60% of the population in that region and both Russia and Ukraine supported the separatists in the war in '92 in what they called: "to protect our ukrainian/russian brothers from the romanian agression from Moldova.
Russians and ukrainians in that separatist-region together they are more in number than moldavian/romanian which is said to be only 40 %

And I repeat: If Ukraine will wish to join UE , it should first join NATO, which means Ukraine will no longer have the same interests as Russia in this region. It will have to respect the integrity,the independence and the suveranity of R.Moldova. Ukraine will support this time the reunification of the Moldova and will make pressure on the liders of that region. Everything depends on the elections in Ukraine in this autumn and who will lead that country.


You're right: you cannot change anything. The future of our country will be decided by USA and Russia (USA is the superpower but Russia is still a regional power)

al this street-shows and this circus of this so called "parties" sponsored by USA and Russia (Christian Democrats and Democratic Moldova also get money from Moscow. Russia does no longer support the Communist Party, Putin was dissapointed in Voronin) all this circus in fact is meant to distract attention from the real problems of the country - the integrity of our country (Russia gives money to these parties in chisinau but gets more from the TransDniester region which it controls. BTW: the industry of the Republic Moldova is placed on the left-part of the river dnestr in the separatist region controlled by Russia ) , poverty and corruption - the real problems of our country. Russia gets a lot of money from TransDniester region where it controls the industrial region of R.Moldova and is bribeing the liders of the parties from Chisinau (especially Christian Democrats) ...
There is time for a change. R.Moldova will soon be reunited. We must take the example of Georgia.

[quote="Gigolo"]
You know, it's difficult to imagine, that a leader, supported by the West, is at the same time supported by Moscow. If he is supported by the West, he will accomplish some democratic reforms, relations between the country and western structurs will improve. Such leader will have more chances to re-unite Moldova.
And Kremlin doesnt want Transnistrian conflict to be settled, and Moldova to get some chances of uniting NATO.

Exactly. We all need Yushenko as the leader of Ukraine .

This may prove to be vital. As, according to what i heard from you, the Communist will take 1st place, but probably Democratic Moldova + Christian-democrats will have altogether more places in Parliament.
Then, when it comes to choosing the President, if christian-democrats nominate their own candidate, Voronin will get more votes, if they dont, Bragish may win.