alegeri.md

The newspaper FLUX has published an article saying the following:

• A group of youths, whom the Communists have attracted in a dirty game against opposition, admits that it was forced to lie on the television channel NIT
• They claim of being forced to complain against the Christian Democratic People’s Party (PPCD) through fraud
• Each of them received by 3,000 lei (about $240) from NIT for the lies they said in the TV studio.

Meanwhile, the youths made public a declaration and dismissed the facts they stated to NIT. “Everything we said was untrue. Now we are aware that we were involved in a dirty affair and we regret this now,” reads the declaration signed by Dorin Glebov, Victoria Viziru, Constantin Ceh, Victoria Bradu and Vasile Gherman, which we reproduce in facsimile. “An unknown person summoned us to show up at the penal investigation section once we came back from Ukraine. The stranger told us that we will have problems at university, if we do not give green light to summons.

We were told at the penal investigation section to write down an explanation regarding our visit to Ukraine and a complaint against PPCD, though we had nothing against PPCD. We are aware of having participated in a dirty game and we want to withdraw the complaints we wrote down without knowing anything,” reads the joint declaration.

It is worth to mention that the final report of the OSCE Mission regarding the observation of the 2003 local elections described the television channel NIT as biased.

The television channel Moldova-1 has informed that the police discovered a group of Russian citizens who were carrying out clandestine investigations regarding the conduct of the electoral process in Moldova. The group held electronic equipment and lots of electoral video records in favour of “an electoral competitor”.

The news agency BASA-Press reported that “the police discovered the foreign citizens while investigating whether lots of clothes for a political party participating in the ongoing electoral campaign were legally made. The Interior Ministry found out that these sums were not allocated from the official fund declared in the Central Election Commission. All envisaged foreigners were expelled from Moldova for the violation of the residence regime.”

The press service of the Social Democratic Party of Moldova (PSDM) informed that employees of the Ciocana police unit, major lieutenant A. Ciobanu and A. Carp, searched on Friday the PSDM office in the Ciocana district from 10:30 to 11:30.

They seized the lists of propaganda makers in the Ciocana district and record kits of certain party members during searching.

The policemen also searched the personal objects of Larisa Buga found in the party office. They held the propaganda makers of PSDM, pressured them psychologically and forced them to deliver testimonies and sign the documents issued by them.

The “control document” issued by policemen contains no reference to the law norms.

While searching, the policemen spoke harshly to Buga Larisa, Schitco Nelli and Cojocari Vitalii, who were in the office and threatened to punish them for illegal activity, saying that the PSDM office will be closed because it is not registered with the Central Election Commission.

Policeman Andrei Ciobanu was permanently calling up his superiors in order to inform them how the searching is going on and to receive indications.

PSDM regards these actions as a cynical provocation planned beforehand, which aims to intimidate the staff members and to delay the electoral campaign of an electoral competitor.

All these actions follow one purpose: to fabricate compromising materials about PSDM.

This case is part of an ample campaign of massive falsification of elections organised by the Communist Party by using the administrative resources and manipulating the public opinion.

Tiraspol’s mouthpiece Olvia-Press reported that the State Duma of the Russian Federation has unanimously backed a protocol on introduction of economic sanctions against Moldova. The protocol is an initiative of Deputy Viktor Alksnis and says the following:

“As Moldova’s President Vladimir Voronin had refused to sign the (Kozak) Memorandum on settlement of the Transnistrian conflict, the Committee for the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and relations with fellow citizens is empowered to solicit ministries, departments to provide information about opportunity of the Russian Federation to apply measures as a response, in particular, regarding:

1. Supply of energy for world prices (except for Transnistria);
2. Refusal to import the alcohol production made in Moldova (except for Transnistria) in the Russian Federation;
3. Introduction of a visa regime for Moldovan citizens (except for Transnistrians);
4. Implementation of the 1997 memorandum on insurance of Transnistria’s right to foreign economic relations by the Russian Federation.”

There is no doubt that this is a blackmail against Moldova’s authorities aimed to create difficulties on the eve of parliamentary elections.

Moldova Democrata Bloc (MDB) addressed CEC the following message:

“Taking into account the great number of RM citizens abroad (according to unofficial statistics about one million) and the provisions of the Constitution of the RM, Electoral Code and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in view of providing equal opportunities to citizens of the RM in exercising the right to vote, regardless of the place they are on the election day — in the country or abroad, legally or illegally — MDB demands polling stations to be opened abroad in addition to those opened in the diplomatic missions of RM, as follows:

Romania — in all university centres where citizens of RM study (Bacau, Brasov, Braila, Cluj, Constanta, Craiova, Galati, Iasi, Sibiu, Timisoara, etc);
Ukraine — in all the regions heavily populated or where RM citizens work;
Russian Federation — in all the regions heavily populated or where RM citizens work;
Italy — at the north (Milan) and south (Naples);
Spain — in Madrid;
Portugal — in Lisbon;

MDB believes CEC would promptly respond and would ensure equal opportunities for the RM citizens to exercise their constitutional right to vote”.