Identifier | Created | Classification | Origin |
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09CHISINAU34 | 2009-01-16 13:26:00 | CONFIDENTIAL | Embassy Chisinau |
VZCZCXRO8988 RR RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHNP RUEHROV RUEHSR DE RUEHCH #0034/01 0161326 ZNY CCCCC ZZH R 161326Z JAN 09 FM AMEMBASSY CHISINAU TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7523 INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE |
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CHISINAU 000034 |
1. (C) Summary: Liberal Party (PL) leader Mihai Ghimpu responded with guarded hope to the Ambassador's encouragement of democracy in Moldova. He calmly described the "imposed dictatorship" of the Party of Communists (PCRM) and his disappointment with betrayers of democracy. Ghimpu touted his nephew, Chisinau Mayor Dorin Chirtoaca, as an untainted symbol of hope, and cautiously speculated about outcomes and coalitions after spring elections. End summary. 2. (C) Forgoing the lengthy harangues of past meetings (ref G), Ghimpu described the PCRM as destroying the free press and an independent judiciary, solely to maintain the power and wealth of its members. In addition, he noted, all mayors in the country--including Chirtoaca--must apply for permission from the Ministry of Local Public Administration to appoint officials. All judges, he said, are nominated by the President, and police are centralized under Government of Moldova control. (Note: Ref A describes police in Chisinau preventing Chirtoaca from putting up a municipal Christmas tree in the city. Ref B describes Chirtoaca's other complaints about PCRM pressures to the Ambassador. End note.) 3. (C) Ghimpu accused the GOM of appointing criminals as police station chiefs in order to maintain blackmail control over them. The three- storey houses owned by compliant judges, he said, did not correspond to their monthly salary of 5,000 Lei (USD 500). The GOM, he pointed out, extended its control even to charity, by requiring that all private foreign donations be approved by the Commission on Humanitarian Aid, and by holding up the supplies for several months and then distributing them as Christmas gifts before elections. 4. (C) Noting his involvement in the fight for democracy since perestroika in the late 1980s, and his bribe-free two terms in Parliament in the 1990s, Ghimpu stated that he had observed first- hand how Communists, and their faux-democrat allies, had derailed the move to true democracy and open markets. To this day, he declared, "the so-called democratic parties are the nomenklatura." 5. (C) Ghimpu was especially saddened by those who had previously been young reformers, such as the Liberal Democratic Party (PLDM) leader Vlad Filat (ref D), former Social Liberal Party leader Oleg Serebreanu (now deputy leader in Diacov's Democratic Party), and Chisinau Municipal Council Chairman Eduard Musuc. These had all started out as bearers of democratic hopes, but had later betrayed their ideals for money and power. To combat the PCRM and its fellow-travelers, he said, he had put forth his nephew Dorin Chirtoaca as candidate for Chisinau Mayor in 2005 and 2007. Chirtoaca's convincing 2007 victory, he said, had shown that an untainted, new politician with the Obama-like slogan of "Change" could win elections, inspire hope, and offer a creditable alternative to PCRM governance. 6. (C) The example of Chirtoaca, and the enthusiasm of young party members, he noted, gave him some hope that his party, with its anti-PCRM, pro-Europe and pro-free market platform, would do well. Even Russian-speakers, he noted, were beginning to see that they had been manipulated by the PCRM and were inclining to the PL. (Note: In conversations with us, the National Democratic Institute and the International Republican Institute corroborated Ghimpu, noting that PL youth were eager to learn and implement hands-on door-to-door politics. End note.) While the party is short of funds "because we do not steal," Ghimpu noted that three recent polls put the PL in CHISINAU 00000034 002 OF 002 second place behind the PCRM, with Urechean's AMN third and Filat's PLDM fourth. 7. (C) While giving no figures for PCRM and PL support, he noted that AMN had dropped from 12 to 6.0 percent in poll averages, and that the PLDM, despite Filat's alleged purchase of officials and party members from other parties, had risen only from 6.0 to 6.5 percent. Ghimpu hoped nevertheless that they would reach the 6.0 percent, to avoid the redistribution of "wasted" votes, which would give an advantage to the plurality party, the PCRM. Ghimpu declared that Voronin would anoint someone who was obedient and pro-Russian as his successor, and mentioned Deputy Prime Minister Mejinschii (ref C), Minister of Interior Papuc (ref H), or Prosecutor General Gurbulea (ref F). 8. (C) Ghimpu predicted that no party would gain a majority in Parliament, and that gaining the 61 (out of 101) MPs' votes to elect a president would be difficult. Ghimpu declared in advance his refusal to cooperate with the PCRM or with those MPs who had voted for Voronin in 2005, but said nothing about possible alliances. In response to the Ambassador's remarks about the need for flexibility and pragmatism in politics, Ghimpu did note that he had been willing to create alliances to become Chairman of the Chisinau Municipal Council in 2007 (ref E). Comment -------------------------- 9. (C) Ghimpu balanced hope with melancholy during the meeting. He could not live, he stated, with the thought that those who betrayed the country, its language, and the church were still in power. The mysterious death of his dissident brother in 2000, he said, "obliges me to change life in Moldova," and, he concluded, his life would make no sense unless he labored for the welfare of his country. It will be intriguing to see whether this very private person will undertake the burden of leadership and coalition building if the PL does well, or whether he will turn matters over to his more public and charismatic nephew. Chaudhry |