Anatol Golea
Voters in Moldova head to the
polls on Sunday for a parliamentary election reflecting the tiny ex-Soviet
republic's long-standing division between pro-Russians and pro-Europeans.
Wedged between Ukraine and
Romania, Moldova has struggled to find its place since gaining independence with
the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
While many in the country of
3.5 million want to maintain close ties with Moscow, others want to follow the
example of Romania -- with which Moldova shares a language and long history --
and look west to the European Union.
Sunday's vote is shaping up as
a three-way race between the pro-Russian Socialist party of President Igor
Dodon, the ruling Democratic party and a pro-European alliance.
It will be held under a new
electoral system that divides the 101-seat parliament into seats elected by
party lists and by individual constituencies.
Dodon's pro-Moscow party is
leading in the polls, advocating for Moldova to join Russia's Eurasian Economic
Union over the EU.
The alliance of pro-European
parties, which favours joining the EU and NATO, comes second.
In third place is the
centre-left Democratic Party led by powerful oligarch Vlad Plahotniuc, which
holds a majority in the current parliament and leads the government. It has
pursued a balanced approach between Moscow and Brussels.
Campaign posters in Russian
and Romanian hang over a flea market in the capital Chisinau, where volunteers
from all parties were handing out leaflets to passersby this week.
At a stand of the pro-EU ACUM
alliance of parties, campaigner Ruslan Verbitchi told AFP that Moldova has two
major problems: "Endemic corruption and the violation of human
rights."
Voters, however, showed little
enthusiasm for the polls. With corruption widespread and the country among the
poorest in Europe, few have much trust in Moldova's politicians.
- 'All liars and thieves' -
"They are all liars and
thieves," said Tatiana, a 60-year-old former factory worker, complaining
of a pension of less than 50 euros per month.
"How can you live on
that?"
Macar Naghirnaec, a
23-year-old NGO worker, said it has hardly surprising that voters had little
faith.
"Moldova's democracy is
getting worse. People who were convicted by a court will get to
parliament," said Naghirnaec.
Many cited the example of
businessman Ilan Shor, who was convicted in a billion-dollar fraud case dubbed
Moldova's "crime of the century" and is likely to make it into
parliament.
Shor remains free pending an
appeal, but critics say the fact that he is allowed to stand despite his
conviction is a damning indictment of Moldova's political system.
Analysts fear a new period of
instability for the country after the vote, with no party likely to gain the
majority needed to form a government.
"With political apathy
and distrust of politicians, there is a risk of weak participation," said
Igor Botan, the director of the ADEPT think tank.
Moldova signed an association
agreement with the EU in 2014, but last year Brussels reduced its financial aid
to the country citing a "deterioration of the rule of law".
Russia has meanwhile rallied
Dodon, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin.
"Of course, Russia is not
indifferent to the formation of the Moldovan parliament," Putin said after
a meeting with Dodon in Moscow last month.
As well as seeking to keep
Moldova in its sphere of influence, Moscow has long backed separatists in the
country's Russian-speaking breakaway region of Transnistria.
Russian Security Council chief
Nikolai Patrushev has warned that the West could be seeking to stoke divisions
in Moldova, pointing to the pro-EU revolution in Ukraine that ousted a
Moscow-backed leader.
The West, he said, could
"push Moldovan society towards division and conflict.... We have already
seen this in Ukraine in 2014."
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