Freedom House: Moldova’s transition is stagnating

Moldova’s transition is stagnating. A relative champion of post-Soviet, democratic reforms in the 1990s, Moldova has lost ground since 2001, when the Party of Moldovan Communists (PCM) came into power. Moldova remains the poorest nation in Europe, and it has a secessionist conflict with the region of Transnistria in the east, which is supported by Russia. Against such a background, Moldova has also failed to accelerate political and economic reforms. This is the conclusion of the Freedom House Organisation annual report: “Nations in Transit”, Info-Prim Neo reports, quoting BBC. The document was launched on Thursday, June 14, and is focusing on the crisis of democracy in Central European countries, as well as about the growing domination of Russia. The report points out the populist and the anti-liberal trends as well the harsh attacks against the independent justice. The report ends by stating that the level of pluralism is “quite high” but there is no guarantee that the democratic forces will consolidate as long as Moldova is the poorest country in Europe and the Transnistrian conflict is still unsettled. The conclusion of the Freedom House organisation is that despite the pro-EU orientation the progresses are quite unsatisfactory. According to the cited source, Vladimir Voronin has an increasing authority which can hardly be refuted through democratic institutions, especially when a part of the opposition has allied itself with the communist party and the other is almost scattered. Freedom House states that the electoral code despite substantial reforms to the electoral code in 2005, the reform process slowed considerably in 2006. Substantial recommendations by the Council of Europe and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) for reform of the electoral system was ignored. The electoral code was reformed, but not sufficiently to prepare the ground for the local elections in 2007. In addition, the two regional elections in Moldova witnessed irregularities (Gagauzia) and in the secessionist region of Transnistria was illegitimate. In 2006, the Parliament adopted a new broadcasting code that was generally hailed as being in line with democratic standards by civil society groups, the media, the opposition, the OSCE, and Council of Europe. However, the first steps in implementing the new code have shown that the government is unlikely to act in the spirit of the law. Referring to the problem of corruption, Freedom House report mentions that the Moldovan authorities made considerable efforts throughout 2006 to frame an anticorruption legal framework but had less success implementing anticorruption measures involving civil society and the international community. Despite these efforts, however, many structural problems within the public administration and the society as a whole persist, and the results remain modest. Reforms were generally stagnant during 2006 with President Voronin further consolidating his power over most aspects of Moldovan society. Opposition forces remained weak and divided, and the media fell heavily under political influence. Improvements in media legislation have yet to see any practical implementation thus far. Furthermore, external relations were limited to pressures from Russia and little to no engagement with the European Union. The democracy score holds at 4.96.