MOLDOVA: Poll fails, Communists say failure was predictable

Record ID: 575064

  • Title: MOLDOVA: Poll fails, Communists say failure was predictable
  • Date: 7th September 2010
  • Summary: CHISINAU, MOLDOVA (SEPTEMBER 6, 2010) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF CENTRAL ELECTION COMMISSION MOLDOVA NATIONAL FLAG SIGN IN MOLDOVAN AND RUSSIAN READING "REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA. CENTRAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION" MOLDOVA'S CENTRAL ELECTION COMMISSION MEMBERS ENTERING NEWS CONFERENCE CENTRAL ELECTION COMMISSION SYMBOL NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (Moldovan) SECRETARY OF MOLDOVA'S CENTRAL ELECTION COMMISSION, IURIE CIOCAN SAYING: "As you can see, and this data can be found on the website of the Central Election Commission as well, the turnout in the referendum was 29.5 percent." CENTRAL ELECTION COMMISSION MEMBERS LEAVING NEWS CONFERENCE EXTERIOR COMMUNIST PARTY HEADQUARTERS SIGN READING (MOLDOVAN) 'CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF COMMUNIST PARTY OF MOLDOVA' COMMUNIST PARTY LEADER AND FORMER PRESIDENT VLADIMIR VORONIN TALKING TO JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) COMMUNIST PARTY LEADER AND FORMER PRESIDENT VLADIMIR VORONIN SAYING: "The failure of those who organised this referendum could be foreseen from the very beginning. That's why nothing will get worse, and it will not have much effect on anything, except for the fact that finally the first round of this political crisis is over, which has lasted for more than a year, and now the parliament has to be dismissed so we can elect a new parliament and we can get over this political crisis completely." BUST OF LENIN (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) COMMUNIST PARTY LEADER AND FORMER PRESIDENT VLADIMIR VORONIN SAYING: "We can't elect a president. We have tried twice and exhausted the legal chance to do so. We can't have another referendum because a referendum can only be held once in two years. What else can we do? The only thing we can do is dismiss parliament and hold new elections." VORONIN TALKING TO PRESS, THEN RETURNING TO BUILDING
  • Embargoed: 22nd September 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAEBOKHGORLTU36AILE4K8XOAI6
  • Story Text: Moldova's pro-Western leaders pondered their next move on Monday (September 6) after a referendum designed to break a political deadlock in the ex-Soviet republic failed due to poor turnout, dealing them a humiliating setback.
    Central Election Commission Secretary Iurie Ciocan told journalists that turnout stood at less than 30 percent.
    "As you can see, and this data can be found on the website of the Central Election Commission as well, the turnout in the referendum was 29.5 percent," said Ciocan at a news conference in Chisinau on Monday (September 6).
    One leader in the ruling four-party Alliance for European Integration conceded that the referendum, called to decide on whether the country should switch to direct presidential elections, had been "a tactical error".
    Communist leader and former Moldova President Vladimir Voronin, who made a powerful appeal on the eve of the poll for people to stay at home, said the referendum had been bound to fail from the start.
    "The failure of those who organised this referendum could be foreseen from the very beginning. That's why nothing will get worse, and it will not have much effect on anything, except for the fact that finally the first round of this political crisis is over, which has lasted for more than a year, and now the parliament has to be dismissed so we can elect a new parliament and we can get over this political crisis completely," Voronin told journalists, speaking outside the Communist Party headquarters in Moldova's capital.
    A pro-western political Alliance took power just over a year ago after eight years of Communist rule, vowing to bring the country into the European mainstream.
    The failure of the referendum is a blow to the authority of the Alliance, which had billed the referendum as a way to end a political logjam, and a triumph for the opposition Communists, who had called for a boycott of the vote.
    Alliance leaders had expressed confidence that they would easily gain the required turnout and go on to win support for presidential elections by popular vote. Voronin said the only way out of Moldova's political impasse now was a parliamentary poll.
    "We can't elect a president. We have tried twice and exhausted the legal chance to do so. We can't have another referendum because a referendum can only be held once in two years. What else can we do? The only thing we can do is dismiss parliament and hold new elections," he said.
    Opinion surveys had predicted a vote in favour of ditching the present system, which says the head of state can only be elected by a three-fifths majority in parliament. Under this system the country has been mired in a state of paralysis without a full-time president for 18 months.
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