Des manifestants protestant contre la victoire du Parti communiste aux législatives de dimanche en Moldavie ont réussi, mardi 7 avril, à pénétrer dans les bâtiments de la présidence et du Parlement de Moldavie, à Chisinau, malgré les tentatives de la police de les repousser à l'aide de canons à eau, a constaté un journaliste de l'AFP. Peu avant, ils ont attaqué à coups de pierres la présidence de la République. Plusieurs vitres ont été brisées par les protestataires, au nombre de 10 000 environ, étudiants pour la plupart, qui se sont heurtés à la police anti-émeute, a déclaré un journaliste de Reuters présent sur les lieux. Les manifestants, descendus dans les rues, dont le site moldave Timpul diffuse une vidéo, s'étaient regroupés devant le siège du gouvernement avant de descendre le principal boulevard de Chisinau vers la présidence.
Selon les résultats quasi définitifs des élections de dimanche, le Parti communiste emmené par le président Vladimir Voronine a remporté 50 % des voix et un nombre suffisant de sièges pour élire le prochain chef de l'Etat. Au pouvoir depuis 2001, Vladimir Voronine ne peut briguer un troisième mandat ; mais sans doute inspiré par le premier ministre russe, Vladimir Poutine, il a exprimé le souhait de se maintenir dans les hautes sphères de l'exécutif. Enclavée entre l'Ukraine et la Roumanie, la Moldavie est le pays le plus pauvre d'Europe.
(Fonte: Le Monde, 7 aprile 2009)
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Students in Moldova have attacked the country's parliament in protest at the victory of the governing Communist Party in Sunday's general election. Witnesses say crowds poured into the building through smashed ground-floor windows and shortly after hurled furniture out and set it alight. More than 30 people - including protesters and police - have been injured, medical officials said. President Vladimir Voronin has called for an end to the "destabilisation".
"Challenging the results of the election is no more than a pretext," Interfax news agency quoted Mr Voronin as telling a cabinet meeting. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana has urged all sides in the former Soviet state to refrain from violence. Russia has also voiced its concern. Alexandru Oleinic, an opposition MP, told Reuters that the leaders of the three main opposition parties were now holding talks with the president and Prime Minister Zinaida Greceanii. He gave no details of what the talks would entail. Interfax said that Mr Voronin would make an address to the nation on Tuesday evening.
Election 'was fraudulent'
Tear gas and jets of water were blasted at protesters by security forces defending the parliament building in the capital, Chisinau. The presidential office, opposite, was also attacked.
Representatives of opposition parties are among the protesters. They believe the election result was fraudulent. The Mayor of Chisinau, Dorin Chirtoaca, who is deputy head of the opposition Liberal Party, said the protests were justified "because people did not vote for the communists in such large numbers". The communists won 50% of votes in the election declared "fair" by observers. They were followed by the centre-right Liberal Party with almost 13% of the votes, and the Liberal Democratic Party with 12%. Reports from the country say local television stations are off-air and the national radio station is broadcasting folk music. No reports about the protest have been included in its radio news bulletins.
Opposition reject coalition
Mr Solana said he was "very concerned" over the situation. "I call on all sides to refrain from violence and provocation. Violence against government buildings is unacceptable," he said in a statement. "Equally important is the respect for the inalienable right of assembly of peaceful demonstrators." Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said he was concerned about the protests which he described as "provoked". President Voronin is expected to step down after two terms in office. He is barred by the constitution from running for a third term, although he has indicated he wants to remain involved in affairs of state. Parliament chooses his successor and the communists have the biggest party in the new parliament - but do not have sufficient votes to select the president alone. If no president is chosen before 8 June, another parliamentary election must be held.
The pro-Western centre-right opposition parties have said they will not join a coalition with the communists, who favour strong links with both Russia and the European Union. Mr Voronin's successor will lead the poorest country in Europe, where the average wage is just under $250 (£168) a month, and will inherit an unresolved conflict over the breakaway region of Trans-Dniester. Correspondents say the dispute is reminiscent of the situation in South Ossetia before last summer's conflict between Georgia and Russia. The region has run its own affairs, with Moscow's support, since the end of hostilities in a brief war in 1992. Mr Voronin resumed direct talks with Trans-Dniester last year.
(Fonte: BBC News 7 aprile 2009)
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A political standoff continues between disgruntled opposition leaders and the Moldovan government following multiparty talks convened when antigovernment street protests turned violent in the capital. Some reports suggested that a deal had been reached that would have provided for a recount of ballots from the April 5 elections, but opposition sources and the country's election supervisor rejected that version of events.
Reuters had reported that three main opposition leaders met with President Vladimir Voronin and Prime Minister Zinaida Greceanii in response to the violence. Several agencies then suggested both sides agreed that the ballots would be counted again. But the chairman of the country's national election commission, Iurie Ciocan, told RFE/RL's Moldovan Service that reports that attributed to him the news of a breakthrough and a recount were incorrect.
Chisinau Mayor Dorin Chirtoaca, whose pro-Western Liberal Party placed third in the elections and who was reportedly present for the meeting, said he was told by governement and parliamentary representatives that they had no authority to order a recount.
Clashes between police and some of the more than 10,000 protesters who came out for the second day of antigovernment demonstrations included the storming of the offices of the president and of the parliamentary building across the street. President Voronin had reportedly warned organizers of antigovernment protests in the capital that turned violent and accompanied the storming of government buildings to end the "bacchanalia," which he alleged is aimed at destabilizing the country.
The president went on to say that "this operation has been well-prepared, well-thought-out, and it looks like it's also been well-financed." Interfax quoted Voronin as saying at the same cabinet meeting that "challenging the election is no more than a pretext." "It is strange for us that the people organizing this bacchanalia are in such a hurry," Voronin reportedly said. "We cannot give any final assessment. The main thing is stop any continuation of the destabilization sought by the organizers of this bacchanalia."
Violent Turn
One day after an estimated 8,000 people turned out on April 6 for protests against preliminary results from the weekend elections, upwards of 10,000 people hit the streets of Chisinau to protest the ruling Communist Party's apparent election victory. Demonstrators attacked riot police with cobblestones and bricks, prompting security forces to use batons and water cannon to stem their advance. A fire engine was turned upside down and destroyed by demonstrators.
Crowds eventually forced their way into the presidential and parliamentary buildings, inflicting considerable damage as they carried furniture and office equipment outside. Reports suggest that dozens of police and civilians have been treated for injuries.
Some members of the opposition have called for scrapping the April 5 legislative elections, in which the ruling Communists' declared victory with more than half the vote, and are demanding that a fresh poll be held. If preliminary vote tallies held, Voronin's Communists would hold 61 seats in the 101-seat parliament, exactly the number needed to elect a new president to replace him. Voronin, who is serving his second term, is not allowed to run again under Moldova's constitution.
Motives Unclear
Demonstrators initially poured into the building that houses the president's offices, and later broke into the parliament building across the street through broken windows and proceeded to heap furniture and office equipment on a bonfire outside. Mayor Chirtoaca told reporters soon after the mayhem broke out that violence was provoked by provocateurs infiltrated among the largely peaceful protesters. "Thousands of young people have broken the ground floor windows and those on the first and second floor, and entered the auxiliary rooms," RFE/RL correspondent Iulian Ciocan said to describe the scene shortly after midday. "They set something on fire, and there is thick smoke coming out of some windows. Police tried to stop them on the presidency's steps but were pushed back inside where they started using water cannon against the protesters."
Ciocan described the situation as "rather uncertain," with no clear organizers behind the protests that turned violent and even less idea of "exactly what they want." Gheorghe Ciobanu, the director of a Chisinau emergency hospital, was shown on Romanian television saying that his facility had treated 40 people, including three who appeared to have been injured by some sort of explosion.
International Concern
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana urged protesters to avoid violence, but called on authorities to let peaceful demonstrations go ahead. Moldova is among six invitees of a new EU outreach program for ex-Soviet neighbors, called the Eastern Partnership. The European Union is expected to formally invite Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine to join the initiative at a Prague summit on May 7. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin was quoted as saying Moscow was following the situation "with concern." The Romanian Foreign Ministry has also said it is worried by the events next door in Moldova.
Monitors from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) said in a preliminary report on April 6 that the elections took place in an "overall pluralistic environment." But the ODIHR noted that "further improvements are required to ensure an electoral process free from undue administrative interference and to increase public confidence." Among the shortcomings, the ODIHR cited alleged intimidation of voters and candidates, bias in the state-dominated media, and hurdles that included an electoral threshold and a ban on preelection alliances.
( Fonte: RFE/RL, with reporting by RFE/RL's Moldovan Service in Chisinau, RFE/RL correspondent Eugen Tomiuc in Prague, and additional wire reports, 7 aprile 2009. Nella pagina originale anche il video degli scontri di oggi).
