2009 legislative elections are already rigged. Info-Prim Neo interview with Serafim Urecheanu, the president of the Moldova Noastra Alliance

[ - How was the political year 2008 for Moldova and what are your forecasts for 2009?] - Predictably, following the usurpation of the central power by the Communist President Voronin (Vladimir Voronin – e.n.) with the help of Rosca (Iurie Rosca, Deputy Speaker and leader of the Christian Democratic People’s Party), this year saw the peak of the antidemocratic and anti-European actions taken by the red-orange coalition government. During the first period, the legislature at least pretended to focus on reforms. There were adopted documents called reforms in the area of broadcasting, elections, control of public finances, judicial self-administration and others. Certainly, the Moldova Noastra Alliance criticized then the fact that the new legislation ignored the European recommendations and the viewpoint of the civil society. At the same time, it contained evident schemes for sharing property and media resources and for gaining political control over certain institutions that need to have their independence guaranteed. But I would like to stress that even if half a step was taken forward earlier, big steps were taken backward in 2008: the Broadcasting Coordination Council and Teleradio-Moldova Company slipped under the influence of the power, which established unprecedented control in mass-media; the electoral legislation became more restrictive and antidemocratic; such institutions as the Audit Office and the Human Rights Center proved their inefficiency; the security bodies, the police and the judiciary are more obviously used in the power’s political interests; the prosecutor’s office remained practically unreformed. At exclusively political level, I must mention the launch of pre-electoral strategies by Voronin’s group, with the involvement of an unprecedented media armory on the one hand and of a number of parties designed to mislead the electorate of the Opposition on the other hand. When there is administrative and media dictatorship, with a whole contingent of anonymous actors ready to play different roles in the scenario of the mafia groups of the power, when the real Opposition is practically repressed and blocked informationally, it means that the 2009 parliamentary elections are already rigged. Unfortunately, many independent media outlets are more responsive to money and corporate interests than to important political processes. Such values as democracy and truth are now in the deepest crisis experienced since the Republic of Moldova was created and it is very hard to restore them. But the Moldova Noastra Alliance Party has the most solid basis and will use it to do this and to bring the democratic, pro-national and pro-European forces back to a coalition government in 2009. This is our mission and forecast for the coming year. [ - 2008 ends eight years of Communist government and two consecutive terms of office of President Vladimir Voronin. What are the distinctive features of this period?] - A number of assessments are contained in the answer to the first question. But a general characteristic I repeat is the fact that the country has been managed by those that have been against this state, our independence and the fundamental interests of this people from the very beginning. Everyone must open their eyes to see at least at the last moment that the power was taken by foreigners that used it cynically and irresponsibly in order to destroy our young democracy, to get something out of the population and to extort everything from the business and the national economy. It was a government of lies, of boundless corruption at the highest level of the power, of betrayal of the national interests that undermined the European integration process. Voronin is the main person to blame because he usurped the powers in the state, paralyzing their work. We should keep in mind that we had to repeatedly suffer the effects of a criminal ideology, of the totalitarian Communist ideology. These eight years have been lost years for Moldova and will remain such if the society does not realize that it must change the power and let those that represent today the real Opposition win the 2009 elections. [ - What does your party intend to obtain in the 2009 legislative elections and what effects will the elections have on Moldova?] - We bank on victory and victory only, together with the other noncommunist forces that have chances to enter Parliament in order to free the country from the mafia group that abused it until now. First of all, we will restart the democratic reforms and create optimal conditions for attracting massive private investment and large European projects. We must fulfill the necessary conditions so that Moldova is included in the same European integration package with the eastern Balkan countries and 2009 is a crucial year for this. We will immediately reestablish good neighborhood relations with Ukraine and Romania, which have the most precious experience that we can use in the European integration process. There are a lot of problems that should be remedied and done practically from zero as the Voronin clan caused a disaster. I assure you that immediately after losing the elections, the exponents of this clan will try to evade abroad, to their hidden properties and accounts. We will remain at home to finally build the future that our people and its descendants deserve.