Acting President Voronin: Moldova could return to a time of interethnic conflict and "cynical experiments"

Acting President Vladimir Voronin, who is also head of the Party of Communists, attended the opening of the second World Gagauz Congress in Comrat. The Gagauz are a Turkic Christian minority that lives in an autonomous region in the south of Moldova and in other neighboring states.

Nearly 78 percent of the voters in the region cast a ballot in favor of the Party of Communists on July 29.

Mr. Voronin said that "your Congress is taking place as Moldova is at a crossroads. It is a difficult situation: either we go back to the beginning of the 1990s and have to deal with interethnic conflict and a complete professional and state incompetence, or we continue to walk the path of creation which took Moldova out of oblivion and turned it into a country of dynamic transformations that is persistently headed toward European integration and toward keeping its partnership with Russia.

"You have made the choice," he continued, "an unequivocal and uncompromising choice. You have picked stability, confidence in tomorrow, peace, prosperity, and Moldovan independence."

Mr. Voronin's statements come at a time of tense ties between the Party of Communists (PC) and the new ruling Alliance for European Integration. The Alliance needs eight votes from the PC to be able to vote in a President, but the Communists have put forth conditions which the new ruling coalition seems unwilling to compromise on. See here and here for details.