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