parliamentary election since gaining independence, amid concern over alleged violations of religious and political rights in the small former Soviet Republic, official results showed Monday, March 7. With most votes counted the Communists had won roughly 47 per cent of the vote in Sunday’s election, down from the reported 50 per cent the party polled in the 2001 ballot, the Central Electoral Commission said.
Analysts suggested President Vladimir Voronin’s Communists would be able to form a government if the exit poll results hold up, though they may not have enough seats for a clear majority to keep the presidency.
The Communists and two centrist groups were the only parties out of the 15 in the race to win enough votes to gain seats in the 101-member Parliament, after a campaign overshadowed by reported arrests of political opponents and the expulsion of Russian observers.
EVANGELICAL GROUPS
Christian human rights watchers also expressed worries about alleged attacks against some non traditional evangelical groups in what is one of Europe’s poorest Orthodox nations.
"Those who refuse registration [with the authorities] on principle, such as the International Council of Churches of Evangelical Christians/Baptists, have faced raids…" said human rights watchdog Voice Of the Martyrs (VOM) recently.
In addition there is concern about the classification of some religious practices "as harmful to health" which was used in the former Soviet Union as an excuse for religious oppression, VOM said. Those found guilty can face a fine or up to 5 years in prison, human rights watchers claim.
SPLIT REVEALED
But with neighboring Romania now preparing to join the European Union in 2007, analysts
said the country’s over two million eligible were choosing a parliament in an election that has more than ever revealed a split between the gradually pro-Western government and Russia.
The Communist Party has accused Russia of trying to influence the polls and barred 100 Russians, who said they were observers, from entering the country, Russian media reported.
However opposition parties suggested the Communists are not yet behaving as real Western style democratic reformers because dozens of people campaigning against the Government were allegedly arrested.
Moldova’s political opposition is campaigning under yellow and orange colors — the symbols of reformist forces in neighboring Romania and Ukraine, respectively, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported. The United States and the European Union have condemned alleged media restrictions aganst the oppostions during the election campaign. Along with neighboring Romania, they have called for a free and fair vote.
INCREASE INTEREST
"There is no doubt that there is an increase in interest and attention in Moldova," Cristina Gallach, spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, told Reuters news agency recently. "The role of the European Union can only be useful," she reportedly said.
Yet the tensions have underscored the struggle for a political direction in the young nation, BosNewsLife observed. While the government wants to move away from perceived Russian domination, Moscow claims it has a role to play in Moldova.
About 1,800 Russian troops remain in the turbulent Trans-Dniester region, which broke away from Moldova in 1990, sparking a brief war against Moldovan forces, following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
WEAPONS STOCKPILES
Russia says its troops in Trans-Dniester are part of a peacekeeping operation and guard stockpiles of weapons and ammunition left by the Soviet army.
But Moldova’s communist government has called the troops "an illegal occupation force" and demanded their withdrawal.
(With BosNewsLife News Center in Budapest, Stefan J. Bos, reports from Moldova).
