Two blocs led by Lupu and Filat will fight for power in 2010, experts

The PCRM will lose ground as a result of the December 7 non-election of the head of state, while other parties will strengthen their positions. Such an opinion was expressed by Moldovan and Russian experts who participated in a roundtable meeting themed “Moldova after Presidential Elections” held by “Free Europe – Moldova” Foundation on December 9, Info-Prim Neo reports. The Foundation's head Chiril Lucinski said the results of the 2010 early elections will be truly democratic. “The Democrats will govern the country and there will be no monopoly on the administrative resources. On the other hand, the recent surveys show that though the ratings of some parties change, the ratio remains unchanged. Thus, the political crisis in Moldova cannot be overcome,” Lucinski said. Moldovan political analyst Vitalii Andrievskii said two political blocs will struggle for power next year – a center-right bloc led by the PLDM leader Vlad Filat and a center-left bloc headed by Marian Lupu. “It is not known if the PL leader Mihai Ghimpu will accept to be an inferior partner of the center-right collation so that the PL could remain the most radical party,” the expert said. There will be problems inside the center-left bloc. “Marian Lupu can become the leader of the Centrists. His rating goes up even if he wasn't elected as head of state. But Lupu must get rid of his current tactics and formulate clearly what he wants,” the analyst said. “Maybe it is good that Lupu was not elected President. He did well in the posts he held until present, but we cannot know how he would have acted as head of state,” Andrievskii said. The expert also said that the situation of the PCRM is worse. “The position of Vladimir Turcan is not clear. Will he leave the Communist parliamentary group alone or will take somebody with him? Will he be able to found a new party himself? If he succeeds, the PCRM will have one more adversary,” he said. According to the analyst, the successor is another problem faced by the PCRM. “Vladimir Voronin will soon turn 70 and Mark Tkachuk will have to form a new leader,” Vitalii Andrievskii said. The experts also spoke about the Alliance for European Integration's intention to marginalize the PCRM by banning the Communist symbols. Andrievskii said that Mihai Ghimpu is now like a 'terminator' of the PCRM, who wants to solve the 'historical problem'. Other leaders of the Alliance also want to get rid of the PCRM, but through the agency of the Ghimpu. Well-known Russian politologist Sergey Kurghinean said it is not easy to destroy the PCRM as many post-Soviet countries tried to do this, but did not manage to. He also said that after better or worse dialogues, the Moldovan elites will start the reformation process, which is the favorite occupation of the political elites from the post-Soviet area as part of which different interests are pursued. The politologist recommended creating an intelligentsia club that would have an influence on the politicians, would unite the extremes and would remind them that the people took to the street, suffered the consequences and now expect that the promises are fulfilled. The meeting participants spoke about Moldova's foreign policy. Many of them said the EU's enlargement capacities are limited. As to the Moldovan-Russian relations, Evgheny Minchenko, director of the International Institute for Political Expertise, said Russia 'wagered' on none of the political leaders and is ready to cooperate with all of them, except the radical ones.