Communist candidate Vasile Sova accuses opposition parties of pro-Romanian inclinations

Communist candidate Vasile Sova gave a news conference on July accusing the opposition parties of pro-unionist inclinations. “The April 7 events (...) tell of the fact that the opposition counted on the division in society, on discrediting any cohesion processes in the country,” reads a communique issued by the PCRM after the conference. “Why was there nobody to condemn the statement according to which an integral Moldovan citizen can be only the person perfectly commanding Romanian?” asked himself Reintegration Minister Vasile Sova. This statement is attributed by the Communists Party (PCRM) to the Liberal Democratic candidate Iurie Leanca. But in fact on July 1, Leanca has said: “The PLDM will draft a state strategy to integrate the national minorities into society (...), as special attention will be paid to bi-lingual education.” Asked by Info-Prim Neo's reporter whether the PCRM stands in fact for the national minorities not being able to use the official language of the country, Vasile Sova has said in Russian: “The language issue must be tackled very attentively and delicately and one must create conditions to study the state language.” The Moldovan legislation obliges the officials to speak the state language, Info-Prim Neo specifies. The representative of the party staying for eight years in power has added: “We, the representatives of ethnic minorities must not only struggle, but even make efforts by all means to study the state language, so that Moldovan be as native for any national minority.” Several parties accused the PCRM of highlighting the inter-ethnic issue in the ongoing race. Asked by Info-Prim Neo, political analyst Oleg Cristal has commented: “A party willing to gain most of the vo6tes cannot use only 'the minorities card' because, as is known, the Ravnopravie Movement, who counts on the Russian speakers, scores small percentages. However, since the opposition parties largely neglect the ethnic minorities and have a pro-Romanian message, too, the PCRM speculates this situation in its favor”. “The Moldovan society is not divided now on ethnic criteria, but on political ones: Communists versus anti-Communists. That is why 'the Marian Lupu project' emerged trying "to halt the political war", by no means 'the inter-ethnic war',” the analyst said. Referring to the Transnistrian issue, the Reintegration Minister pointed out peace as the main accomplishment. The documents the Moldovan side handed to the participants in the talks on the conflict are also considered as an attainment. Sova announces long-time negotiations in this regard in the fall, if the voters “elect stability, not chaos”. By 'chaos' he means the opposition parties that he accuses of not having complex plans to solve the conflict, nor expertise. When coming to power in 2001, the Communists were promising a quick settlement of the Transnistrian conflict. The Reintegration Minister stays out of office during the race and runs on position 18 on the PCRM's list for parliament.