Tuesday, 27 February 2001 : Xtra : News : World News


Moldova Heads Back To Communism

26/02/2001 01:21 PM - Olena Horodetska

Moldova appeared to be headed for a return to Communist rule on
Monday as voters turned their backs on a decade of upheaval and
market reform to embrace the nostalgic vision of more ordered times.

Initial indications from the former Soviet republic's parliamentary
elections on Sunday showed the Communists were on course to
secure a majority to form a government, gaining at the expense of
centrist, reformist parties.

"As of 11.40 p.m (2140 GMT), we had counted 11 percent of the total
vote and the Communists were in first place with 54.58 percent,"
Dumitru Nidelcu, head of the Central Election Commission, told state
television early on Monday.

At the last election in 1998, the Communists won 30 percent of the
vote, enough to become the largest faction in the country's
fragmented parliament with 40 of its 101 seats.

Analysts had predicted voters would swing heavily to the
Communists, who tapped into public despair about poverty and
unemployment, campaigning with promises to double salaries and
pensions and restore order.

The Communists' main rival in the poll, Prime Minister Dumitru Braghis's
alliance of centrist parties and blocs, was running a poor second, with
13.5 percent of the vote.

But it was too early to say whether the Communists would get the 61
seats needed to elect a new president for Moldova, a country of 4.3
million people heavily dependent on a creaking agricultural economy.

Officials, counting ballots throughout the early hours, were expected
to announce final results on Monday morning.

The Communists chose the broken economy as their election
battleground. Promises of higher salaries and the nostalgic appeal of a
return to the order and jobs for life of the Soviet era appeared to woo
voters in a country where more than 80 percent struggle to survive
on just one dollar a day.

The Communists' campaign videos harked back to easier times,
showing the "happy 1970s" before switching to pictures of beggars
sifting through litter, portrayed as the result of a decade of reform.

On Sunday, as he cast his own ballot in the centre of the Moldovan
capital, Chisinau, Communist Party leader Vladimir Voronin was in
confident mood, telling reporters he expected up to 50 percent of the
electorate to vote for his party.

Voronin has promised tighter state controls of the economy but, with
an eye on the International Monetary Fund, he has also been careful
to avoid saying he opposes all reforms.

Voronin has pledged to build a reformist government, although details
remain sketchy. The Communists have yet to explain how they plan
to meet their pledge to double salaries and pensions.

Voronin has however declared himself ready to work alongside the
IMF, whose economic blessing is regarded by many foreign investors
as a prerequisite for their involvement.

On Sunday he said he would appoint a non-Communist as prime
minister if his party came to power, a move which may help allay
some fears about his commitment to free enterprise.

The government is facing an uphill battle. Moldova's agricultural
sector, the backbone of its ragged economy, has shrunk to just one
third of the size when the country declared independence from the
former Soviet Union in 1991.

The IMF in December approved a $142 million loan, encouraged by
government plans the IMF says would achieve sustainable economic
growth, cut debt and reduce poverty.

But the economy, which grew a modest 1.9 percent last year, has a
long way to go and economists have questioned some of Voronin's
proposals for greater government control.

Sunday's election was called after parliament reached deadlock in
December trying to elect a new president. Neither the Communist or
centrist candidates could attract sufficient votes. The head of state
is elected by deputies, not
voters.

The election is seen as the key to ending a crippling tussle between
the president and deputies over the head of state's powers. That
struggle has delayed vital reform and legislation.

[Brat 3: University of Pennsylvania I]