Protesters demand right to vote for overseas Moldovans

The participants in a protest rally held on Sunday in Chisinau’s central plaza urged the authorities to ensure the right to vote for the Moldovan citizens residing or working abroad. According to the organizers – the Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova (PLDM) – the event was attended by over 20,000 persons, Info-Prim Neo reports. The protesters gathered in the Great National Assembly Square, carrying posters and waving flags of the PLDM, Moldova and the European Union. Later they marched along Stefan cel Mare Blvd. and continued protesting in front of the Presidential Palace. According to PLDM president Vlad Filat, the goal of the manifestation was to “give the green light to the right to vote for the Moldovans who are abroad” (Green is the color the Moldovan Lib-Dems picked to represent them) “Our compatriots abroad have the right and want to decide, by voting, the future of our country”, declared Filat, standing on stage in the central square. “10 years ago, Voronin and Rosca engaged in their criminal campaign, sacked a democratic government and replaced it with the first Communist government. Exactly at that moment the exodus of our citizens began. From 1999 to 2001, some 300,000 people fled Moldova. From 2001 to 2009, the figure has topped one million”, said PLDM vice president Alexandru Tanase. “More than one million citizens of Moldova demand their right to vote on April 5, demand polling places in the Moldovan communities abroad”, underlined Mihai Godea, PLDM senior vice president. According to him, “the excuse of not having the required legal instruments to open those polling stations used by the Communist authorities is a blatant lie”. “Moldova has seen many cases of polling stations being opened in other locations than where Moldovan diplomatic missions are based. So, all that we need to enable our citizens in Italy, France, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Russia, Romania, Germany, an so on, to vote, to express their will for Moldova’s future, is determination”, declared Godea. The participants kept a moment of silence to pray for the soul of poet Grigore Vieru, 40 days after his death, when, according to the Orthodox tradition, the deceased receives God’s judgment. The poet’s son, Calin Vieru, a PLDM member and the candidate no.6 on the party’s list for the upcoming parliamentary elections, recalled that the poet used to say: “Beloved nation, gathered together, you could easily fit into an icon”. “Today, it’s harder for us to come together. Fewer have icons in their homes. Today we speak to God in different languages, as if he isn’t one”, said Calin Vieru, urging Moldovans everywhere to join hands, come together, and form an icon to decide the fate of the country. The participants adopted a resolution, demanding the Moldovcan authorities to set up additional poling places for the Moldovans working and living abroad. A similar rally was held on Sunday by the Moldovan community in Ireland’s capital, Dublin. The Moldovan Central Election Commission has repeatedly explained that it doesn’t have the needed legal mechanism to open extra poling stations overseas, in addition to those working at Moldova’s embassies and consulates. According to official statistics, more than 300,000 Moldovans are now abroad, but the unofficial figure climbs to 1 million. The number of Moldova’s embassies and consulates is 30 or so.