Parties-Phantoms, Parties - State Institutions, Parties - State Enterprises

20 parties have registered in the current election campaign. Many people say it is a too big number for such a small country as Moldova. At the same time, much more parties could take part in the election campaign.

Activists launch Moldova’s first ‘Space Camp’ © Susan Coughtrie

Romanian Parliamentary elections - a Danger for the Republic of Moldova?

Headlines

• "Moldova Azi" information portal is changing its format and editorial content, Centrul pentru Jurnalism Independent, 8 August 2011, 15:19
• Moldovan students queue up to apply for scholarships in Romania, Info-Prim Neo, 4 August 2011, 13:44
• Ukrainian scholarships not very popular in Moldova, Info-Prim Neo, 2 August 2011, 14:58
• Kent Larson: USAID will always support process of Moldova democratization, INFOTAG, 1 August 2011, 13:42
• Parliament sets up new commission - for checking civil servants' property and incomes, INFOTAG, 29 July 2011, 9:00
• Scandal in Moldovan parliament over deputies' relatives, INFOTAG, 29 July 2011, 9:00

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The declarations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration (MFAEI) of the Republic of Moldova addressed to the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the election campaign carried out by the candidates for the Romanian Parliament on the territory of the Republic of Moldova are unjustified and even contrary to the European legislation in the field, as well as to the national legislation and the Constitution of the Republic of Moldova. Besides, the Moldovan authorities contradict themselves invoking the need for prior coordination of the activity of electoral candidates in the Republic of Moldova by the Eastern Europe and Asia College, at the same time qualifying carrying-out of election campaigns by those beyond the territory of the Romanian state as inadequate. For, the position of the Moldovan MFAEI is unclear. Initially they wanted to come to an agreement with electoral competitors on their electoral steps and measures in the Republic of Moldova to finally declare in a diplomatic way that their activity was adequate only for Romania,.

Analysis of the national legislation in the field, as well as international conventions the Republic of Moldova is a party to underlines the fact that the Moldovan Ministry of Foreign Affairs is guided by other principles. First of all, we should mention art.38 of the Constitution of the Republic of Moldova that guarantees the right of Moldovan citizens to elect and to be elected. Based on the fact that some Moldovan citizens possess double citizenship, among which there are Romanian, Russian, Ukrainian and Bulgarian nationalities, the provisions of this article apply for them too. The same thing is stipulated by the Electoral Code of the Republic of Moldova (chapter 2, art.11 and 12) for all the citizens (with some exceptions that do not affect holders of foreign passports in any way). The second important point refers to the European regulations the Republic of Moldova has subscribed to as a member of the Council of Europe. Here, we can mention the European Convention on Nationality ratified by the Republic of Moldova on October 14, 1999 that is going to come into force since March 1, 2009. According to this document, citizens of a state-party to this act who are simultaneous holders of another citizenship can enjoy the same rights and obligations as the other citizens on the territory of the state they live or have a resident visa in (art. 17). As a result, the Republic of Moldova is obliged to ensure equal conditions for all the citizens to exercise their right to elect and to be elected regardless of multiple citizenships. Also, the Republic of Moldova, as a member of the Council of Europe, should be interested in promotion and application of the Code of Best Practices in elections adopted by the Venice Commission on July 5-6 and October 18-19, 2002, which also includes recommendations on the principles related to nationality and the rights of citizens with multiple citizenships. Making an abstraction from the fact that the Republic of Moldova is a member of the Council of Europe, as a subject of international law it is responsible for application of principles and standard legal regulations valid in the international practice but not yet circumscribed in the national legislation.  

Despite this, the Moldovan authorities claimed that Romania violated the law of the Republic of Moldova. Moreover, MFAEI suggested to the Romanian colleagues to limit the territorial applicability of the Romanian electoral provisions. The paradox is that the Republic of Moldova that is going through a difficult process of European integration makes recommendations on the matters of legislation to an EU member state that has already been through the process of adaptation to the European regulations (the so-called acquis communautaire) and their implementation as compulsory conditions for accession to the EU. One plausible argument in favor of Romania is also the fact that the process of its post-monitoring by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe stopped back in 2002, after it was confirmed that they had fulfilled all of the commitments undertaken at the moment of accession to the Council of Europe (1993). While the Republic of Moldova is still carefully monitored by PACE representatives, even though in the context of the visit of PACE President, Luis Maria de Puig, on July 6-9, 2008, the Chisinau authorities tried to persuade the European official that it was opportune to stop the monitoring process.

Thus, the MFAEI behavior regarding the electoral candidates for the Romanian Parliament has few things in common with coordination of their electoral activity on the territory of the Republic of Moldova or with the intercession to limit those to the Romanian national jurisdiction. For, political motivation plays a key role in the political-diplomatic offensive launched by the MFAEI (Republic of Moldova) against the MFA (Romania). The following judgments are given to explain this situation:

• The election campaign initiated by the candidates for the Romanian Parliament could contribute to consolidation and mobilization of the electorate of certain Moldovan opposition parties (especially the Liberal Party, but also other parties such as MNA, etc.), which does not correspond to the interests of CPRM that keeps loosing the support of the Moldovan electorate.
• These actions by the MFAEI could be encouraged by the "unofficial" parliamentary alliance CPRM-PCDP and have the goal of diminishing/stopping the positive impact of the Romanian election campaign held on the territory of the Republic of Moldova (including with participation of "Romania-friendly" opposition parties) to favor the Moldovan Christian-democrats, which according to the last polls risk being left out of the Moldovan Parliament after 2009.
• The Moldovan authorities could pursue discrediting Romania in the issues related to citizenship enduing, which would further lead to intensification of the dialog on liberalization of the visa regime for Moldovan citizens with Brussels, as well as to amplification of the critics on the part of the European officials with regard to the policy of the Romanian state on Romanians everywhere (especially as far as holders and applicants for the Romanian citizenship are concerned, the number of which is likely to double or even triple in case of a detached victory of L-DP).
• The actions of the Moldovan authorities could be conditioned by the desire to favor a certain political party of Romania (SDP and/or NLP) and respectively their candidate. Further, they could invoke various artificial reasons to set back the election campaign of a certain candidate.
• The official Chisinau is conscious of the fact that selection of an election candidate strongly attached to the Republic of Moldova (or a representative of a political formation headed by an undeclared "ideological rival" of CPRM and especially we are talking about the President of Romania, Traian Basescu, and respectively Eugen Tomac, advisor to the president in affairs related to Romanians everywhere) in the Romanian legislative forum will attract a greater attention (expressed in legislative initiatives, increase in the financial support for projects in the cultural, humanitarian, social, etc. spheres) on the part of Romania to the problems faced by the Romanian citizens in the Republic of Moldova. At the same time, in case of his victory, certain opposition parties would get even more chances to achieve considerable results at the 2009 elections (for instance, LP).

In the present political conditions of the Republic of Moldova, as well as in the context of the existing bilateral Moldovan-Romanian relations, each of the above-mentioned ideas is logical. However, the last argument looks most credible. Firstly, because some electoral competitors from the Eastern Europe and Asia College are very active (this time we are talking not only about Eugen Tomac, who is the most visible comparing to the other candidates). Secondly, from the speeches and election programs spread by the candidates for the Romanian Parliament, the L-DP representative (Eugen Tomac) is a strong supporter of the idea to simplify the procedure of the Romanian citizenship re-obtaining by the population of the Republic of Moldova to the maximum, as well as the author of many projects dedicated to Romanians everywhere. Thirdly, this very candidate has been and still is supported in the election campaign by Elena Basescu, the daughter of the Romanian President, Traian Basescu, who is the secretary of the L-DP National Youth Organization.

These acknowledgements give us a logical and sustainable framework of arguments to conclude that the political-diplomatic "offensive" initiated by the Moldovan officials pursues a clear political-electoral goal, especially if we remember that the election campaigns of the candidates for the parliament and the presidency of the Russian Federation that have taken place in the Transnistrian region and which have not been commented by the Chisinau authorities in any way.