April 4th is the day Moldova’s Parliament holds elections for President. Up for re-election is Communist Party leader Voronin, who won 56 of the 101 votes, of which he only needed 61 to win. In other words, his party needed to pursuade some of the opposition his way. If a president is not elected after two times, then parliament dissolves and a new election is held.

Well, five votes isn’t much, so it was a pretty easy battle for Voronin to win. But before the election, the pro-Moscow Democratic Moldova bloc presented a list of 22 demands for its participation. Previously, both the Democratic Moldova bloc and the pro-Romania Christian Democrats had said they’d obstain from the vote.

In these conditions the communists could count on the votes of the Democratic party (8 deputies), which split from ???????Democratic Moldova???????, or on agreement with part of the deputies from the main opposition forces.

This was precisely the case. After consultations with President Voronin, the representatives of ???????Democratic Moldova??????? announced that they put forward 22 conditions on which they were ready to support his candidacy. Among these conditions are the withdrawal of Moldova from the CIS and the denouncement of the agreement on Moldova’s entering this community; the outlawing of the Russian peace-keepers in the Trans-Dniester Region and their replacement by the ???????blue helmets??????? of the UN, NATO or EU; the denouncement of the agreement with Russia on the settlement of the Trans-Dniester problem of 1992; a settlement of this problem by granting the area on the left bank of the Dniester a special status within the framework of a unitary state; the renunciation of the course of neutrality and the proclamation of the course of integration in European and North-Atlantic structures; amendments to the Constitution in order to change the name of the official language from ???????Moldavian??????? to ???????Romanian???????; the introduction of the history of Romanians and Romania in school curricula; access to the special service archives; the adoption of a new law on political parties and the Code of elections.

This is by far, to me, a bizarre about face with regards to the Democratic Moldova bloc’s politics. Russia openly backed this opposition party (and some say financed), and the party definitely leaned that way. Hearing that they want much stronger relations with the EU is a total change of course.

The article notes that the Communist Party denied the demands.

People from President Voronin’s entourage at first refused to comment on these demands of the opposition. But then an official from the presidential administration called these conditions a provocation and said that nobody would examine them.

It wouldn’t have done that unless it had an ace. This suggests that they had been able to pursuade enough opposition candidates to vote for Voronin. Nearly a month ago I noted the difference between the two opposition parties, and that the Christian Democrats would be easier to sway.

Like I said, if there is an election rerun, I believe that the opposition will clearly take more votes than it did this time. It????????s too early to tell if it will happen, though. The Christian Democrats, who are to be awarded 11 seats in Parliament, are more pro-European than they are pro-Russia???????? as Democratic Moldova is ???????? in their leanings, especially toward their neighbor in Romania. They would be the easiest for Voronin????????s pro-European communists to sway…

It looks like that’s exactly what happened.

CHISINAU, Moldova — Pro-Western President Vladimir Voronin was re-elected Monday in a parliamentary vote, and he pledged to continue efforts to bring Moldova closer to the European Union.

Voronin, who won with 75 votes in the 101-seat legislature, has made a complete turnaround in his foreign policy since 2001, when he advocated a union with Russia and Belarus. He now favors closer ties with the West.

In Monday’s vote, he was up against Gheorghe Duca, who is also from the Communist Party and is chairman of the Science Institute and a former ecology minister in the Communist government of 2001-04. Duca’s candidacy was seen only as a formality, as Moldovan law requires two candidates for a presidential vote to be valid. He won only one vote.

Voronin, whose Communist Party has 56 seats, won the vote with support from several smaller opposition groups, including the pro-Western Popular Christian Democratic Party, which has 11 seats.

“We voted for Voronin because early elections would have favored the forces supported by Russia,” said Iurie Rosca, who heads the Christian Democrats.

Here are parts of his speech after being re-elected.

If I recall correctly, the OSCE said that overall, the elections were free. It seems that the west will settle with the candidate it knows. Either way, the further west Moldova looks the better prospects it has for higher standards of self-determinate governance.