All-Party Mud Wrestling as Campaign

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SUBJECT: All-Party Mud Wrestling as Campaign
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1. (SBU) Summary: As Moldova's July 29 repeat
parliamentary election nears, the political
parties have been using this campaign period to
try to exploit the controversies which followed
April 5 elections and the violent demonstrations
of April 7. The ruling Communists have
extensively used campaign themes blaming the
opposition for the April riot, while most
opposition parties promoted their own conspiracy
theories and engaged in ad hominem attacks.
Serious platforms and descriptions of policy are
largely absent from this hurried campaign. The
nastiness on all sides shows the depth of
polarization, which will likely linger regardless
of the outcome at the polls. End summary.

PCRM: Opposition Guilty of an "Attack on Moldova"
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2. (SBU) The centerpiece of the campaign by Acting
President Voronin's Party of Communists (PCRM) has
been a slick 11-minute video alleging that the
April 7 violence was organized by the opposition
in a deliberate effort to destabilize the country.
The video, "Attack on Moldova," which cross-cuts
deceptively between scenes of violence and
opposition rallies also claims that the opposition
leaders were in league with forces in Romania to
harm Moldova's sovereignty. The PCRM is also
trying to promote its image as the guarantor of
stability for the future, as seen by its trademark
photo of a young woman with a baby, used in almost
all its campaign literature and posters. But the
party's dominant tone has shifted from promises to
fear-mongering and the slogan "Let's defend our
motherland!" has become the core of the PCRM's
campaign. In line with Voronin's earlier
accusations that the opposition was plotting a
coup and preparing Moldova's reunion with Romania
at the expense of the country's independence, the
PCRM has persistently promoted the image of
opposition parties as "traitors" who seek to
"destroy" and "liquidate" the country.

Opposition bites back
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3. (SBU) Our Moldova Alliance (AMN),the Liberal
Party (PL) and the Liberal Democratic Party (PLDM)
launched a common platform and some joint actions.
(Note: these three parties were the only
opposition forces to enter Parliament in the April
5 elections; all three appear poised to repeat
their success on July 29, although some polls show
AMN possibly polling beneath the 5 percent
threshold. End note.) Youth branches of all
three parties released "appeals to grandparents,"
calling on them not to vote for the PCRM, and thus
ensure a better future for their grandchildren.
But there have also been certain differences in
their campaigns. AMN has focused on anti-
communism, playing off the PCRM's slogan with the
counter-slogan "Let's defend our motherland
against the communists!" The PL projects fuzzy
roseate images in a video of Chisinau Mayor Dorin
Chirtoaca telling a little girl who asks "What
will happen when I grow up?" that "You will have a
family, a job and live in a free country here in
Moldova." Similar material has come from PLDM
leader Filat, who told an interviewer that "in the
last 8 years not only the rule of law and the
economy were ruined but also people's
spirituality. So, we need new visions, managerial
capacity and coherence in protecting and promoting
our identity."


4. (SBU) All three of these opposition parties
have emphasized claims of electoral fraud in April
and widespread human rights abuses by government
forces after April 7, including, as PLDM asserts,
the death of four men allegedly tortured in
custody. Opposition parties also used videos
posted on their websites and screened during
meetings with voters around the country. One such
film aired by PLDM blamed the Communists for

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organizing the April violence. The opposition
parties have made claims to media that police or
PCRM activists prevented or disrupted the
screenings. The PL, which has as a slogan
"Communists destroy," also set up a prominent
display of caricatures in Chisinau's main park
picturing Voronin and his political allies as
(simultaneously) Nazis, Stalinists and
homosexuals. PCRM material has returned the
compliment by portraying Chirtoaca sporting a
Hitler moustache, and repeatedly dwelling on the
theme accusing the opposition of being fascists.

Lupu's Democratic Party Q Above the Fray?
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5. (SBU) Former Speaker Marian Lupu, who left the
PCRM in June, is the only major candidate who has
largely refrained from scurrilous attacks. The
Democratic Party (PD) (which invited Lupu to
execute a friendly takeover in June) has
campaigned in a more moderate, centrist way,
trying to appear as a reconciliation party and
projecting itself as a "solution for a nationwide
consensus between two belligerent and extreme
wings." "Let's stop the political war" is one of
PD's most widespread messages. Numerous
billboards feature this slogan, showing Marian
Lupu as a future President who will bring peace
and equilibrium to society. The PCRM has been
quite reticent in criticizing the PD, while the
opposition parties have been constantly projecting
their perception of Lupu as "PCRM's project."
(Note: In contrast to its under-the-threshold
performance in April, the PD, under Lupu's new
banner, is predicted to make it into Parliament on
July 29. End note.)

Comment:
--------------


6. (SBU) Almost all sides are exploiting the lack
of even basic consensus about who is to blame for
the startling and disturbing events of April 7.
Their willingness to make disturbing accusations
of treason and murder have further poisoned the
atmosphere and will likely make post-election
consensus building difficult. Only Lupu's
centrist message seeks to ameliorate the deep
polarization in society. In addition, polls that
predict a huge turnout and high numbers of
undecided voters portray an eager electorate whose
main interests expressed to pollstersQthe economy,
the economy, and the economyQare not being met.
Many people are tired of the political
confrontation and are hoping the repeat elections
will allow leadership questions to be settled.

Chaudhry