Pro-Western Communists were favored to remain in power as Moldovans voted in parliamentary elections yesterday, but the party faced a challenge from centrists who prefer closer ties with Moscow.
Some 2.3 million Moldovans are eligible to vote in the parliamentary elections. Polls opened at 7am and were due to close at 9pm. More than half the electorate needs to vote for the elections to be valid.
Opinion polls gave the Communist party of President Vladimir Voronin about 46 percent support. The party has led the country since 2001 through four years of economic growth, but Moldova remains Europe's poorest country.
PHOTO: AFP
"I voted for the Communists because they look after the old people and they doubled my pension," said Ana Vasentciuc, 70, who has a monthly pension of just 437 lei (US$35), after she cast her ballot early yesterday.
Formerly pro-Russian, the Communists have made a complete turnaround and now support closer ties to the EU, which 65 percent of Moldovans favor.
Voronin fell out with Moscow over the future of the Russian-speaking separatist region of Trans-Dniester. He rejected a Russian-backed proposal in 2003 to federalize Moldova by giving Trans-Dniester statehood status, and he is now closer to the EU and to Romania's reformist President Traian Basescu.
The elections have raised tensions between Moldova and Russia, which fears it is losing influence in the former Soviet Union after the election of pro-Western leaders in Georgia and Ukraine last year.
Fifteen parties and alliances are contesting 101 seats in parliament. The lawmakers will then choose a president, with 61 votes in favor needed for the appointment.
``Voronin has raised pensions and salaries ... he has proved that he's interested in helping ordinary people,'' said 68-year-old Andrei Taru.
``It doesn't bother me that he was friends with Russia in the beginning and now he's friends with the Europeans and Americans,'' he said.
For the first time, exit polls will be released after the polls close, with early results shortly afterward. Final results are expected Wednesday.
Some 770 foreign observers, including 150 from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, will monitor the elections.
Nine special stations will be opened near the border with Trans-Dniester so the separatist region's 700,000 residents can vote. Trans-Dniester authorities have refused to allow any polling stations on their territory.
Russia put 1,800 of its peacekeepers on alert in the separatist region Saturday to prevent incidents, the Russian news agency Interfax reported.
Voronin's administration has been criticized for being heavy-handed with the opposition and tightly controlling the state media.
His party is challenged by a centrist alliance, the Democratic Moldova Bloc headed by Chisinau Mayor Serafim Urechean, which is pro-Moscow. The Bloc has about 16-20 percent support in opinion polls and has been bolstered by the Communists' deteriorating relations with the Kremlin.
The Popular Christian Democratic Party, which wants Moldova to join NATO and the EU, has been the Communists' main opponent in recent years. It is credited with about 10 percent voter support.
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
China on Monday announced its first ever sanctions against an individual Japanese lawmaker, targeting China-born Hei Seki for “spreading fallacies” on issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and disputed islands, prompting a protest from Tokyo. Beijing has an ongoing spat with Tokyo over islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries, and considers foreign criticism on sensitive political topics to be acts of interference. Seki, a naturalised Japanese citizen, “spread false information, colluded with Japanese anti-China forces, and wantonly attacked and smeared China”, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters on Monday. “For his own selfish interests, (Seki)
Argentine President Javier Milei on Sunday vowed to “accelerate” his libertarian reforms after a crushing defeat in Buenos Aires provincial elections. The 54-year-old economist has slashed public spending, dismissed tens of thousands of public employees and led a major deregulation drive since taking office in December 2023. He acknowledged his party’s “clear defeat” by the center-left Peronist movement in the elections to the legislature of Buenos Aires province, the country’s economic powerhouse. A deflated-sounding Milei admitted to unspecified “mistakes” which he vowed to “correct,” but said he would not be swayed “one millimeter” from his reform agenda. “We will deepen and accelerate it,” he
‘HYANGDO’: A South Korean lawmaker said there was no credible evidence to support rumors that Kim Jong-un has a son with a disability or who is studying abroad South Korea’s spy agency yesterday said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s daughter, Kim Ju-ae, who last week accompanied him on a high-profile visit to Beijing, is understood to be his recognized successor. The teenager drew global attention when she made her first official overseas trip with her father, as he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Analysts have long seen her as Kim’s likely successor, although some have suggested she has an older brother who is being secretly groomed as the next leader. The South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) “assesses that she [Kim Ju-ae]
RSS