Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09CHISINAU627
2009-08-10 15:45:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Chisinau
Cable title:  

Non-Communist Parties Unite; Now the

Tags:  PHUM PGOV KDEM MD 
pdf how-to read a cable
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DE RUEHCH #0627/01 2221545
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 101545Z AUG 09
FM AMEMBASSY CHISINAU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8275
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CHISINAU 000627 

SENSITIVE

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EUR/UMB, DRL/AE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM PGOV KDEM MD
SUBJECT: Non-Communist Parties Unite; Now the
Harder Part Starts

Sensitive but Unclassified. Please Protect
Accordingly.

REF: A. Chisinau 604; B. Chisinau 586

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CHISINAU 000627

SENSITIVE

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EUR/UMB, DRL/AE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM PGOV KDEM MD
SUBJECT: Non-Communist Parties Unite; Now the
Harder Part Starts

Sensitive but Unclassified. Please Protect
Accordingly.

REF: A. Chisinau 604; B. Chisinau 586


1. (SBU) Summary: The four non-Communist parties,
who were elected to a combined parliamentary
majority of 53 out of 101 seats on July 29, formed
an official Alliance for European Integration on
August 8. If, as is increasingly being predicted,
the Party of Communists (PCRM) "designates" eight
MPs to vote with the non-Communists, the
Parliament will be able to elect a President. At
that point, the former opposition will face three
challenges: translating their general principles
into policy; governing Moldova through the global
economic crisis; and avoiding a repetition of the
disunity and squabbling that characterized
previous coalitions in the 1990s. End summary.

Four Players and Their Program
--------------


2. (SBU) After 10 days of negotiations, the four
non-Communist parties announced a coalition based
on 21 principles, of which the five most
prominent, and predictable are: reestablishing the
rule of law; overcoming the economic crisis and
ensuring economic growth; boosting local autonomy;
reintegration of Transnistria into Moldova; and
European integration, along with a consistent and
balanced foreign policy. Democratic Party leader
Marian Lupu explained that the Alliance's foreign
policy consisted of European integration; resuming
good relations with Moldova's neighbors Romania
and Ukraine; and a functional partnership with
Moldova's strategic partner Russia. This blend of
policies satisfies the Romania-leaning liberal
parties, and acknowledges the necessity of
cooperating with Russia. In a Pro-TV talk show
discussion program on August 8, the four leaders
promised that their first foreign-policy action
would be to lift the visa regime imposed on
Romanian citizens by the PCRM government. This
step should go a long way towards improving
relations both with Romania and with the European
Union. The Alliance also promised that it would
engage in a dialogue with the PCRM, after Voronin
returns April 15 from his one-week holiday in
Turkey -- but said it would not negotiate with the
Communists about the division of cabinet jobs.


3. (SBU) The four parties signing on to the
Alliance for European Integration are:


--The Liberal Democratic Party (PLDM, 18 seats),
led by the pragmatic Vlad Filat, and boasting of
three more seats in comparison to the April 5
vote;

--The Liberal Party (PL, 15 seats),led by the
intransigently anti-communist Mihai Ghimpu, and
his nephew, Chisinau Mayor Dorin Chirtoaca, with
the same number of seats as after April 5;

--The Democratic Party (PDM, 13 seats),led by the
former Speaker and PCRM defector Marian Lupu, up
from no seats after April 5, when it was under the
management of Dumitru Diacov; and

--The Our Moldova Alliance (AMN, 7 seats),led by
former Chisinau Mayor Serafim Urechean, and down
from 11 seats after April 5.

Getting to Three-Fifths and Breaking the Impasse
-------------- ---


4. (SBU) Having a majority in parliament will
allow election of a Speaker, but, as ref A notes,
Voronin will remain Acting President until 61 MPs
vote otherwise. Only then would the Alliance be
able to put into practice whatever deals they may
have made regarding the distribution of offices.
Therefore, eight PCRM MPs, whoever they are and
however they are won, pulled or pushed across the
aisle, must vote for the coalition candidate.
This might look difficult, considering that the
Alliance will want someone prominent from its own

CHISINAU 00000627 002 OF 002


side to be President: in an August 10 interview
with Radio Free Europe, PD member and former
Minister of Economy Valeriu Lazar, with the
agreement of the Alliance leaders, rejected the
bland-technocrat formula and stated that Moldova's
next President would not be "colorless, odorless,
or tasteless." A corresponding difficulty is that
Voronin continues to denigrate his opponents in
the language he used in the polarized, mud-
slinging campaign (ref B) just ended. In a July
30 press conference, he stated that his opponents
were "bound to outside forces, primarily various
Romanian forces and other structures, including
corrupt and criminal international structures."

Getting to "Da"
--------------


5. (SBU) Beyond the electoral exhaustion felt by
many Moldovans and the crying need for a
functioning government to deal with a sea of
troubles, several factors may be pushing Voronin
and the PCRM to hand over the eight votes needed
to elect a president. First, the PCRM may be
willing to concede the spoils to the victor -- a
move that could be portrayed as generous, and
which would prevent a third round of national
elections following failure to elect a president.
Such a move might also be a form of self-
protection, since the general trend in the PCRM
vote-share has been downwards, and might continue
in a third round seen by many as caused by PCRM
stubbornness. In a recent interview with a
Ukrainian newspaper, PCRM MP Vladimir Turcan, who
was Deputy Speaker in the Parliament elected April
5, signaled that the party was ready to concede
eight votes to elect a "politically non-affiliated
President."

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


6. (SBU) Turcan's position could be merely a
negotiating move, one that the PCRM would be able
to give up, graciously and as a good loser, to
allow Lupu or Filat to become President. As the
PCRM is well aware, the ongoing train wreck that
is the Moldovan economy is only going to get
worse. There could therefore be a real advantage
in ceding the presidency to a prominent target,
and rebuilding the PCRM's fortunes while
commenting, more in sorrow than in anger, that
pensions are not being paid and that the stability
established under the PCRM is breaking down.


CHAUDHRY