VZCZCXRO2212
RR RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHCH #0379/01 0941145
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 031145Z APR 08
FM AMEMBASSY CHISINAU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6526
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CHISINAU 000379 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EUR/UMB, DRL/IRF, DRL/AE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/03/2018 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL PINR MD
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR RECEIVES SOS MESSAGE FROM AMN'S URECHEAN 
 
REFS: A. Chisinau 0370, B. Chisinau 0324, C. Chisinau 0304, D. 07 
Chisinau 0758 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Michael D. Kirby, for reasons 1.4 (b) and 
(d). 
 
¶1. (C) Summary: Our Moldova Alliance (AMN) leader Serafim Urechean 
reiterated his self-anointing as the leader of the opposition, dodged 
discussion of the new Prime Minister, and speculated on his chances 
of doing well enough in 2009 elections to attract the Christian 
Democrats and the Democratic Party, whose leaders he scorned as 
opportunists, to join a parliamentary coalition with the AMN.  He 
accused the Communist Party of maintaining a propaganda advantage on 
state television, and encouraged the Ambassador to repeat his visits 
to the districts, and support independent media.  End summary. 
 
Urechean Predicts Electoral Success in 2009 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (C) Presenting his party as the second-largest vote-getter after 
the Communist Party (PCRM), and himself as the leader of the 
opposition (ref D), in an April 2 meeting with the Ambassador 
Urechean speculated that, if the parliamentary elections were held 
now, the PCRM would gain only about 20% of the vote.  Noting that the 
AMN controls 14 out of 20 non-PCRM district councils, he predicted 
that his party would come out on top in 2009.  He declared that the 
voters would punish the PCRM and the Christian Democrats (PPCD); the 
latter, he said, might even fall under the five percent threshold for 
parliamentary representation.  Urechean further noted that on his 
regular weekend visits to districts he hears voters accusing PPCD 
leader Iurie Rosca, and Democratic Party (PD) leader Dumitru Diacov, 
of being traitors.  He added that Rosca and President Voronin were 
conspiring to destroy the coalitions in the non-Communist district 
councils.  That said, Urechean declared that he was willing to form a 
post-election coalition with the two non-Communist parties that come 
in second and third behind the AMN next year.  (Note:  He did not 
want to predict which parties they would be.  End note.)  Urechean 
agreed with the Ambassador that overseas polling and electronic voter 
lists locally offered too many possibilities for interference with 
the voting and the counting of ballots. 
 
Urechean Dodges Question about the New PM 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (C) Stating that he had mentored new Prime Minister Greceanii (ref 
B) in earlier years, he dodged a question about her honesty, but did 
not hold back in his criticism of former PM Tarlev and former 
Interior Minister Papuc as extravagantly corrupt.  He did admit that 
Greceanii was the best candidate for the job, but circumscribed in 
her powers, because the prosecutor, police, and intelligence service 
are all under Voronin's direct control. 
 
Urechean Thankful for IRI, NDI Training 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶4. (C)  Urechean agreed with the Ambassador that it was a good thing 
not to have 17 parties vying for seats in Parliament, and thanked him 
for IRI and NDI training which convinced parties of the need for 
door-to-door campaigning, and assisted the formation of coalitions in 
district councils after June 2007 elections.  He also thanked the 
Ambassador for his pre-election visits last year to 17 of the 31 
districts in the country, noting that the visits helped overcome the 
government's monopoly of information on the one television outlet 
available in the countryside. 
 
Help Requested for Independent TV Channel 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (C) Urechean stated that Moldovans, especially outside the cities, 
rely on, and trust, television for their information.  And, in 
parliamentary elections, which he said are political as opposed to 
the personality-based local elections, media access for candidates is 
crucial.  Lamenting his party's chronic lack of resources, he asked 
for help in financing a small cable TV network.  The Ambassador, 
stressing U.S. neutrality on elections, and our concern that all 
voters have enough information to make informed voting decisions, 
encouraged him to call on Public Affairs to inquire into Democracy 
Commission small grants. 
 
¶6. (C) Asked whether he had been briefed, as promised, by 
Reintegration Minister Sova regarding Transnistrian negotiations (Ref 
A), Urechean said that he had not, and promised, at the Ambassador's 
request, to let us know by the end of the week if there had been no 
contact. 
 
¶7. (C) Comment:  At the end of the meeting, Urechean passed the 
Ambassador a piece of paper on which he had written "S.O.S."  Given 
Urechean's confidence that the AMN will poll the most votes in 2009, 
this may have been somewhat overly dramatic.  Given his concerns 
about Voronin's ability to play rough to win, however, the signal 
might be expressing his genuine fears.  End comment. 
 
CHISINAU 00000379  002 OF 002 
 
 
 
Kirby