Eurasia Press & News
Moldovan authorities and opposition leaders agreed on Tuesday to a recount of votes cast in Sunday’s parliamentary election, Russian news agencies reported, after demonstrators seized the president’s offices.
Some 10,000 demonstrators massed for a second day in the capital of Europe’s poorest country to denounce the victory by the Communist Party, led by veteran president Vladimir Voronin, as rigged and demand a new ballot.
Protesters hurled computers into the street while police took cover behind riot shields. They heaped tables and chairs onto a bonfire outside parliament. Fires were also lit inside.
Moldovan state television said one young woman choked to death from carbon monoxide poisoning in the parliament building.
It cited a senior doctor at Chisinau emergency hospital as saying 34 other protesters had been injured, including two in a serious condition in hospital. Some 80 police officers also received treatment for injuries, it said.
Opposition leaders called for a halt to the protests and said they were pressing for a recount of all votes cast.
But they did not confirm reports on Russian media that authorities had agreed to a full recount. Official results put the Communists in front with close to 50 percent of the vote.
Parliament elects the president, and the Communists appeared very close to securing the 61 seats they need in the 101-seat assembly to secure victory for their chosen candidate.
Most of the protesters are students who see no future if Communists keep their hold on the ex-Soviet state of 4 million people which is wedged between Ukraine and Romania — on the European Union’s border, but within what Russia sees as its sphere of influence.
The leaders of three opposition parties that won seats in parliament spoke to reporters after emerging from talks with Moldova’s president and prime minister in the aftermath of protests that caused serious damage to public buildings.
“We must stop this violence,” Dorin Chirtoaca, leader of the Liberal Party and mayor of Chisinau, said. “We must secure the right to a recount of all the votes. And we demanded the right to stage peaceful protests.”
Vlad Filat of the Liberal Democrats said the opposition, which stands broadly for closer ties with neighbouring Romania, was demanding the right to check all electoral lists.
“As a result of this, I can assure you that the elections were rigged and we will organise a new election.”
Voronin, the only Communist president in Europe, accused protesters of seeking to destabilise the country and demanded an end to the “bacchanalia”.
PROTESTERS ON ROOF
Protesters overwhelmed riot police protecting both the president’s office and parliament — located opposite each other on the capital Chisinau’s main boulevard — and poured into both buildings through smashed windows.
A Reuters reporter saw them waving Moldovan flags — a tricolour of blue, yellow and red with the country’s coat of arms — from the roof and balcony of the presidential offices.
Police withdrew beneath riot shields as demonstrators pushed them from their positions. Some demonstrators were seen chasing police away after seizing truncheons and riot shields.
“The election was controlled by the Communists, they bought everyone off,” said Alexei, a student. “We will have no future under the Communists because they just think of themselves.”
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has already congratulated Voronin on his party’s election win and the Foreign Ministry said Russia was deeply concerned by the events in Moldova.
Voronin has overseen stability and growth since 2001, but he has been unable to resolve an 18-year-old separatist rebellion in the Russian-speaking region Transdniestria, where Russia has had troops since Soviet times.
He cannot stand for a third consecutive term but has made it plain that he wants to retain the levers of power. Analysts say he could try to take on another influential role such as parliamentary speaker.
The vote polarised Moldova between mostly older and rural voters, who see the Communists as a guarantor of stability, and those who identify with pro-Western liberal parties.
Moldova is one of six former Soviet states with which the EU is due to launch a new programme of enhanced ties at a summit in Prague next month. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana called on all sides to show restraint.
