Elections on working day: Moldovan know-how

Leaders of Moldovan political parties are dissatisfied with the decision to hold the early parliamentary elections on July 29, which falls on a Wednesday, Info-Prim Neo reports. “It is the worst decision that Mister Voronin could take. He reduced the voter turnout required to validate the elections to 1/3 as this suits him. On a working day, few people will cast their votes. The Communists count on their electorate – the pensioners,” said Serafim Urecheanu, president of Moldova Noastra Alliance. According to Urecheanu, there is enough time for the election campaign, but not much time for the ruling party to fulfill the Resolution of the European Parliament. “The situation will be rather difficult. Such measures are taken by Voronin in order to destroy the Moldovan Opposition,” the AMN leader considers. Dumitru Braghis, president of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), is not bothered that the elections will take place on a working day. “There is nothing to worry about,” Braghis said. Igor Klipii, vice president of the Democratic Party (PD), said that the holding of elections on a working day is a Moldovan know-how. “We are not concerned about the short election campaign as this is according to the law. We are worried about the conditions in which the elections will be conducted as the Communists will resort to manipulation and propaganda through the mass media loyal to them. The runners will again not have access to the public radio and television, while the people will be further misinformed,” Klipii said. Other party leaders said they would express their positions at news conferences. The date of the early legislative elections was fixed by a presidential decree that came into force on June 16.