Moldova on and after election day (pictures)
A ERB correspondent was in Chisiniau during the parliamentary elections campaign and visited the headquarters of major political parties. Back then, there was no feeeling of any revolutions. On arrival in the capital of Moldova, one can observe a huge number of forex offices, clean streets, expensive foodstuffs and... few pedestrians. Out of a total of four and a half million citizens, over one million are guest workers abroad.
It was no problem to visit the headquarters of three major opposition parties: Our Moldova Alliance, the Liberal Democratic Party and Liberal Party. All of them won seats in the parliament.
All of the parties told this correspondent that the Communists were going to rig the elections. However, they were reserved and saying that they would make a decision on their further actions after the announcement of the official results. Nobody would mention a revolutionary development.
During the elections, the opposition parties had to campaign separately after the Communists had passed a bill that did not allow to set up electoral blocs. But, different from Belarus, the opposition in Moldova has its newspapers, a TV channel in the capital city and government officials at various levels. The headquarters of the opposition parties are located in the city center.
On the voting day, almost nothing would remind about the election. Campaign materials were to be removed from the sreets by the parties. I could just find several posters that invited citizens to take part in the polls.
Only when leaving the city, I could hear local pop songs from loudspeakers. Apparently, there was a polling station.
Here is how Moldova looks like today (photos by Reuters):
It was no problem to visit the headquarters of three major opposition parties: Our Moldova Alliance, the Liberal Democratic Party and Liberal Party. All of them won seats in the parliament.
All of the parties told this correspondent that the Communists were going to rig the elections. However, they were reserved and saying that they would make a decision on their further actions after the announcement of the official results. Nobody would mention a revolutionary development.
During the elections, the opposition parties had to campaign separately after the Communists had passed a bill that did not allow to set up electoral blocs. But, different from Belarus, the opposition in Moldova has its newspapers, a TV channel in the capital city and government officials at various levels. The headquarters of the opposition parties are located in the city center.
On the voting day, almost nothing would remind about the election. Campaign materials were to be removed from the sreets by the parties. I could just find several posters that invited citizens to take part in the polls.
Only when leaving the city, I could hear local pop songs from loudspeakers. Apparently, there was a polling station.
Here is how Moldova looks like today (photos by Reuters):
