Poll: Alliance parties and Communists in virtual tie, most Moldovans do not want early elections, 75 percent want direct election of President

The Viitorul Institute for Development and Social Initiatives and the CBS-AXA Center for Sociological Research and Marketing presented a new opinion poll today.

Data were collected between November 2 and 11 from a representative sample of the Moldovan population. The error margin of the results is three percent.

According to the findings, if early legislative elections were held next Sunday, the Party of Communists would win 33 percent of the vote, followed by the Democratic Party (14 percent), the Liberal Democratic Party (11 percent), the Liberal Party (10 percent), and the Moldova Noastra [Our Moldova] Alliance - two percent.

Eleven percent would not vote. About 19 percent were undecided.

This means that the current Alliance for European Integration, which is made up of the four non-Communist parties, would gain a combined 35 percent.

If a referendum about the direct election of the President were held, about three quarters of Moldovans would vote in favor of it, the poll said. Currently, the head of state is elected by Parliament with a 61-seat majority. Moldova directly elected its President until 2000.

The poll also said that 56 percent of Moldovans do not want early legislative elections, which will have to be organized if the legislature fails to elect a head of state on December 7. This percentage obscures some interesting phenomena, however. About 72 percent of people over 60 do not want early elections, while 56 percent of Chisinau inhabitants would be fine with this outcome. The elderly are generally supportive of the Communists, while the capital has always given a majority to the opposition.

In terms of trust, the popularity of politicians seems to be changing. Democratic Party head and presidential hopeful Marian Lupu is the most trusted politician (16.3 percent), followed by former President and Communist head Vladimir Voronin (15.8 percent), Prime Minister Vlad Filat (7.6 percent), Chisinau mayor Dorin Chirtoaca (4.9 percent), and Speaker and interim President Mihai Ghimpu (2.1 percent). Mr. Voronin used to be the most popular politician in Moldova.

The poll suggests few changes in the popularity of Moldovan parties and points to a virtual tie between the Communists and the anti-Communists. As a result, it is entirely possible that early elections could yield the same situation as today.

h/t www.comunicate.md

P.M. Filat not allowed to visit breakaway republic

Prime Minister Vlad Filat tried to visit Transnistria, the separatist republic to Moldova's east, in order to attend a soccer game between Sheriff Tiraspol and Steaua Bucharest.

He was not allowed to cross the breakaway republic's border, however. Transnistrian authorities did not offer further details on the refusal.

Transnistria was formed in the wake of the break-up of the former Soviet Union, and the separatists consolidated power after a bloody civil war in 1992.

Many national and international soccer games are held in the Transnistrian capital of Tiraspol because the stadium there is of very good quality.

h/t www.jurnal.md

Russian historians: History in post-Soviet states nationalist, anti-Russian

A group of Russian historians who researched close to 200 textbooks in 12 post-Soviet republics - Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Moldova, Uzbekistan, and Ukraine - accused most of these countries of teaching schoolchildren "nationalist" history that generally criticized Russia, the "deadly enemy."

With the exception of Belarus and Armenia, all of the other countries received criticism.

Some of the historians said that many textbooks have minimized "all of the good things that the former Soviet peoples [Imedia: as in nations] received after living close to the great Russian people."

A full press-release from the organization is available here.

Only the Russian version is available, no English version of the story seems to have been posted online yet.

Private Russian TV station broadcasts series on break-up of Soviet Union, the Transnistrian conflict covered

RenTV, a private Russian television station, recently broadcast a series about the break-up of the Soviet Union called "Bloody Divorce."

Among other things, the program included coverage on Moldova and Transnistria, especially in part 3, called "Patriot Games."

It is unclear if RenTV will run this program again.

Washington Report on Middle East Affairs on organ trafficking and theft in Moldova and other countries

The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, a U.S.-based magazine, recently published a lengthy article on Israeli organ trafficking and theft in Moldova and other countries.

The article does not cover Moldova at length, but features a picture of a Moldovan man whose son died after selling his kidney, and a paragraph on the trafficking rings in the country.

The full article is available here.

French Foreign Minister: There is a strong basis to reach a solution to the Transnistrian conflict

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner recently addressed the 17th session of the OSCE Ministers of Foreign Affairs.

According to APA, along with asking for Armenia and Azerbaijan to reach an agreement to end the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Mr. Kouchner stressed that there was a strong basis to reach a solution to the conflicts of Nagorno Karabakh and Transnistria.

The Transnistrian conflict has been ongoing since a bloody civil war in 1992 ended with the creation of a separatist republic in Moldova's east.

The new ruling Alliance for European Integration has pledged to attempt to resolve the conflict, stressing the need to establish ties between citizens across the river Nistru, which acts as a natural border between the territory controlled by Chisinau and the breakaway republic.

Recently, talks about resuming negotiations seem to have been restarted.

Chisinau celebrates Romanian Day

Chisinau officials like Speaker and interim President Mihai Ghimpu and Chisinau mayor Dorin Chirtoaca celebrated Romanian Day today. Mr. Ghimpu said that "I am Romanian" and stressed that he wanted to celebrate the memory of his ancestors.

Regular citizens also celebrated - a few hundred Moldovan students danced the Unification Hora to celebrate 91 years since what is now the Republic of Moldova became part of Romania in 1918.

Moldovan students in Romania also celebrated.

h/t www.jurnal.md