President Calls for Full Vote Recount,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 CHISINAU 000295 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/10/19 TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM EU MD SUBJECT: President Calls for Full Vote Recount, Blames Opposition for Violence ¶1. (C) Summary: In a meeting on April 10 with President Vladimir Voronin, Ambassador Chaudhry stated USG concerns about arrests of protestors, beatings of journalists, threats to expel students from school for participating in anti-government demonstrations earlier in the week and pressure on teachers to keep students away from protests. The Ambassador stressed the importance of freedom of expression and spoke against any violent expression of opinion. President Voronin blamed the opposition for planning the violent protests and for not waiting until votes were fully tallied to complain. He was suspicious about the involvement of foreign states. To get beyond the current impasse, the President called for a full recount of the votes. Voronin said he had no information about journalists being attacked and noted minors who had been arrested had been released on April 10. The President said the law stipulated that the new legislative and executive branches would have to be constituted by June 7. End summary. Ambassador Expresses USG Concerns -------------- ¶2. (C) The Moldovan government (GOM) reaction to the violent protests on the Tuesday, April 7, was not excessive, the Ambassador noted. On the second and third day of the protests (April 8-9), however, journalists were beaten and students were arrested, the Ambassador stated. We have concerns about harsh measures against media, GOM threats to expel students, and governmental pressure on teachers to stop their students from participating in demonstrations, the Ambassador continued. The Ambassador made clear that the USG does not support violence, but also believes in freedom of expression. The arrests should stop, the Ambassador stated. ¶3. (C) Opposition leaders claimed that multiple voting had taken place by one person, the Ambassador noted. He urged the President to find a way to legitimize the elections. ¶4. (C) The Ambassador recognized that it was hard but government must find a balance between allowing people to express themselves and preventing violence. He urged that the government and opposition cooperate to find a way forward constructively. ¶5. (C) The American diplomat reminded the President that the USG's Millennium Challenge Corporation's compact program could be jeopardized by the recent events. President Lays all Blame on Political Opposition -------------- --- ¶6. (C) Voronin said he was impressed that the U.S. had not been indifferent to recent events in Moldova, unlike "European structures" which deserved the President's "objective criticism." The President told the Ambassador that the opposition had started the violent protests and were to blame for the destruction in the presidency and parliamentary buildings. The government had evidence that the opposition had planned the demonstrations before election day. Even a month before voting day the opposition had been talking about fraud, the President noted. The scale and results of the protests were unexpected, and most surprising, the President added, the protests had taken place regardless of international observers' positive evaluation of the elections. ¶7. (C) The President said that government observed three sets of people who had been involved with the protests: children (note: meaning high schoolers),university students and "forces representing criminal and quasi-criminal elements." The GOM had good-quality video of the people who had damaged the presidential office building. The government would identify the culprits and bring them to justice, the President promised. ¶8. (C) Voronin mentioned that the GOM had evidence that "foreign states" were also involved in the violent protests. He also mused that the "old scenario" of the color revolutions had worked CHISINAU 00000295 002 OF 003 several years ago, but not in Moldova's case. "Those who wanted a color revolution didn't calculate correctly," Voronin stated. ¶9. (C) The opposition should have waited until the Central Election Commission (CEC) had concluded its vote count and then presented its complaints to the CEC, the Appeals Court and the Constitutional Court, as the law stipulated in case of electoral problems. Instead, the President said, the opposition said nothing to the government or CEC. Only after they met with the President on April 7 did the opposition leaders (of the Liberal Democratic Party, PLDM, the Liberal Party, PL, and the Our Moldova Alliance, AMN) present their complaints to the CEC. President Calls for Full Vote Recount -------------- ¶10. (C) In any case, Voronin continued, he had appealed today to the constitutional court to recount all the votes, "all 100 percent of them," he stressed. "We would have taken this decision on the first day (of the protests),but the opposition needed the pretext," the President averred. Teachers, Parents Should Control Students -------------- ¶11. (C) Speaking of the young protestors, Voronin said parents and teachers had primary responsibility to control their children. He said that the government knew of teachers who had directly and indirectly encouraged their students to leave school for the demonstrations. Those teachers who instigated minor-age students to protest would be punished in conformity with the law, Voronin stated, because they had risked the lives of the children. Voronin added that the government would likely not expel the students, if they had not participated in the violent attacks against the presidential and parliamentary buildings. Attacks on Journalists -------------- ¶12. (C) Voronin seemed puzzled when the Ambassador raised the issue of journalists being arrested and beaten. He had received all the police reports and knew of no attack against journalists. He categorically stated, on behalf of the government, that "no journalists were attacked or prevented from working." He turned to an aide and asked further about the claim. When the aide noted a media report about "Jurnal de Chisinau" (Moldovan independent newspaper) journalists, the President concluded that the journalists must have been attacked by the demonstrators. A Mr. Matasari (not further identified) tried to beat up journalists, the President noted, and was arrested two hours after the event. ? Arrests of Minors -------------- ¶13. (C) When the Ambassador asked about minors who had been arrested, the President informed the American diplomat that all minors had been released yesterday (April 9) into the hands of their parents. Parents should have controlled their children and not allowed their kids to go out at night, the President restated. Formation of New Parliament, Government -------------- ¶14. (C) Thinking ahead to the formation of a new government, Voronin said he was concerned about how his Party of Communists (PCRM) would work with the opposition in Parliament during the next four years. The opposition would blame the PCRM of fraud and the PCRM would focus on the violent events. The constructive work of the legislature would not be done. Voronin suggested an equitable approach to working with the opposition. If, for example, the recount resulted in the same percentages of seats in Parliament--60 percent for the PCRM and 40 percent for the combined (PLDM, PL and AMN) opposition--then he would propose that the PCRM hold 60 percent of the parliamentary leadership and committee positions and the opposition 40 percent. CHISINAU 00000295 003 OF 003 ¶15. (C) Voronin discussed the timeline for the formation of Parliament and the executive branch. According to the law, Voronin explained, the first parliamentary session should be held one month after the elections, by May 5. A recount of 1.6 million votes could take a week or 10 days, the President said, in which case the May 5 date could slip by a week or more. All procedures to install a new Parliament, choose a new President and constitute a new executive branch (Prime Minister and other Ministers) needed to occur by June 7, the President said. Comment -------------- ¶16. (C) President Voronin had his mind made up. The opposition planned the protests and violence in advance. Foreign governments were involved in the demonstrations. Opposition leaders acted incorrectly to contest the results of the elections. Parents and teachers were responsible for controlling their children. The violent attacks against the Parliament and Presidency buildings were abhorrent. Voronin's understanding of democratic principles is limited. The idea that government has the responsibility to prevent violence according to legal norms and also to create a welcoming environment for freedom of assembly and of expression is not part of the old man's psychology. Old instincts of governmental control and pressure, of using intelligence operatives to intimidate teachers into controlling the movement of students, of arresting peaceful protestors or onlookers without legal cause, and of blaming foreign elements for problems prevail in Voronin and other older generation governmental officials. ¶17. (C) Speaking of old man, Voronin seemed tired during the meeting. At times he made little sense, as when he talked in somewhat rambling fashion about color revolutions that didn't work in Moldova. Toward the end of the hour-and-a-half conversation the President lapsed into Russian, seemingly without noticing that he had switched away from Moldovan. ¶18. (C) He told us that he had asked the Foreign Minister to request money from the European Union to cover the 15-20 million dollar cost of fixing the damaged parliamentary and presidential buildings. The President doesn't seem aware that governmental actions on the margins of the protests--arresting peaceful protestors on the margins of the crowd, using the intelligence service to intimidate teachers, chastising parents for not controlling their children, threatening educational leaders with job loss for allowing students to protest, beating up journalists, forcing government workers to show up at pro- government rallies--are painting a picture of an undemocratic government out of touch with many of its citizens. Moldova seems further away from becoming a modern European state, in line for EU membership, than it was a week ago. CHAUDHRY