SPEAKER LUPU DISINFORMS AMBASSADOR ABOUT

C O N F I D E N T I A L CHISINAU 000290

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/UMB, DRL/AE

E.O. 12958: Declassify 04/09/19
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM PINR MD
SUBJECT: SPEAKER LUPU DISINFORMS AMBASSADOR ABOUT
NGO VOTE COUNT SUPPORTING COMMUNISTS

REFS: A. Chisinau 0288 B. Chisinau 0287

Classified by Ambassador Asif J. Chaudhry under
1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary: In a public pull-aside, Moldovan
Parliament Speaker Marian Lupu informed Ambassador
Chaudhry that Coalition 2009, Moldova's election-
watching NGO coalition, had its own vote figures,
which agreed with Central Election Commission
(CEC)figures showing a win for the Party of
Communists (PCRM) in April 5 parliamentary
elections. Lupu expressed his concerns that
someone was pressuring Coalition 2009 to destroy
its court records, and thus render it unable to
support PCRM claims. However, a Coalition 2009
spokesman gave a completely different account of
PCRM vote-rigging and pre-electoral violations.
End summary.


2. (C) After conducting an April 9 tour for
ambassadors of the Parliament building that was
burnt out and vandalized in April 7 riots, Lupu
pulled Ambassador Chaudhry aside in front of the
other Ambassadors, and whispered his message:
Coalition 2009, a consortium of NGOs set up to
watch and report on the campaign and April 5
parliamentary voting, had figures which agreed
with those of the CEC. CEC figures, still
unofficial, showed the PCRM with about 50 percent
of the vote, and either 60 or 61 seats in the 101-
seat unicameral Parliament. (Note: 61 votes are
needed to elect the next president; all other
seats have been captured by three opposition
parties who have vowed not to cooperate with the
PCRM. End note.) Still whispering, Lupu
expressed his worries that someone was urging
Coalition 2009 to destroy its records, and thus
deprive it of the opportunity to support the CEC
figures and the PCRM win.


3. (C) To check these claims, we called Coalition
2009 Executive Director Igor Botan, and asked a
general question about his assessment of the
election, without raising the question of
Coalition 2009's knowledge of vote figures. Botan
replied by repeating the Coalition's April 7 press
conference statement that the election was
"incorrect and partially free." To support his
argument, he cited two methods used by the PCRM to
rig the election: thousands of addenda to ID
cards (which allowed voters to present an
unstamped ID to election officials in another of
Moldova's 1,997 precincts, and vote again),and
multiple voters listed at one address, to the
occasional surprise of a voter who checked the
list and noted unknown persons living at his or
her address.


4. (C) Botan continued to criticize the PCRM,
citing the bias of mass media and the misuse of
administrative resources by the PCRM. "People
were brainwashed by government media. Also, think
what some poor peasant thinks when the President
shows up in his district, and pensions are paid on
April 1." In response to a question about any
group holding independent vote counts or
estimates, Botan replied that the role of
Coalition 2009 was only to provide information on
and monitor voting procedures, and monitor mass
media.

Comment
--------------


5. (C) At no time did Botan hint that he had any
facts or figures that would support CEC vote
figures and a PCRM victory. In fact, all his
responses were negative, revealing a strong
disparity between what Lupu claimed, and what
Coalition 2009 asserted. (We do not know whether
the coalition actually does have vote numbers, if
only the raw numbers of those counted at all
poling stations by observers from an NGO
affiliated with Coalition 2009.) We cannot judge
whether Lupu is deliberately misinforming us or
engaging in wishful thinking, but in either case
he was far from the truth.

Chaudhry