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DE RUEHCH #0627/01 2221545
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 101545Z AUG 09
FM AMEMBASSY CHISINAU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8275
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CHISINAU 000627 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EUR/UMB, DRL/AE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV KDEM MD
SUBJECT: Non-Communist Parties Unite; Now the 
Harder Part Starts 
 
Sensitive but Unclassified.  Please Protect 
Accordingly. 
 
REF: A. Chisinau 604; B. Chisinau 586 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  The four non-Communist parties, 
who were elected to a combined parliamentary 
majority of 53 out of 101 seats on July 29, formed 
an official Alliance for European Integration on 
August 8.  If, as is increasingly being predicted, 
the Party of Communists (PCRM) "designates" eight 
MPs to vote with the non-Communists, the 
Parliament will be able to elect a President.  At 
that point, the former opposition will face three 
challenges:  translating their general principles 
into policy; governing Moldova through the global 
economic crisis; and avoiding a repetition of the 
disunity and squabbling that characterized 
previous coalitions in the 1990s.  End summary. 
 
Four Players and Their Program 
------------------------------ 
 
¶2. (SBU) After 10 days of negotiations, the four 
non-Communist parties announced a coalition based 
on 21 principles, of which the five most 
prominent, and predictable are: reestablishing the 
rule of law; overcoming the economic crisis and 
ensuring economic growth; boosting local autonomy; 
reintegration of Transnistria into Moldova; and 
European integration, along with a consistent and 
balanced foreign policy.  Democratic Party leader 
Marian Lupu explained that the Alliance's foreign 
policy consisted of European integration; resuming 
good relations with Moldova's neighbors Romania 
and Ukraine; and a functional partnership with 
Moldova's strategic partner Russia.  This blend of 
policies satisfies the Romania-leaning liberal 
parties, and acknowledges the necessity of 
cooperating with Russia.  In a Pro-TV talk show 
discussion program on August 8, the four leaders 
promised that their first foreign-policy action 
would be to lift the visa regime imposed on 
Romanian citizens by the PCRM government.  This 
step should go a long way towards improving 
relations both with Romania and with the European 
Union.  The Alliance also promised that it would 
engage in a dialogue with the PCRM, after Voronin 
returns April 15 from his one-week holiday in 
Turkey -- but said it would not negotiate with the 
Communists about the division of cabinet jobs. 
 
¶3. (SBU) The four parties signing on to the 
Alliance for European Integration are: 
 
--The Liberal Democratic Party (PLDM, 18 seats), 
led by the pragmatic Vlad Filat, and boasting of 
three more seats in comparison to the April 5 
vote; 
 
--The Liberal Party (PL, 15 seats), led by the 
intransigently anti-communist Mihai Ghimpu, and 
his nephew, Chisinau Mayor Dorin Chirtoaca, with 
the same number of seats as after April 5; 
 
--The Democratic Party (PDM, 13 seats), led by the 
former Speaker and PCRM defector Marian Lupu, up 
from no seats after April 5, when it was under the 
management of Dumitru Diacov; and 
 
--The Our Moldova Alliance (AMN, 7 seats), led by 
former Chisinau Mayor Serafim Urechean, and down 
from 11 seats after April 5. 
 
Getting to Three-Fifths and Breaking the Impasse 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶4. (SBU) Having a majority in parliament will 
allow election of a Speaker, but, as ref A notes, 
Voronin will remain Acting President until 61 MPs 
vote otherwise.  Only then would the Alliance be 
able to put into practice whatever deals they may 
have made regarding the distribution of offices. 
Therefore, eight PCRM MPs, whoever they are and 
however they are won, pulled or pushed across the 
aisle, must vote for the coalition candidate. 
This might look difficult, considering that the 
Alliance will want someone prominent from its own 
 
CHISINAU 00000627  002 OF 002 
 
 
side to be President: in an August 10 interview 
with Radio Free Europe, PD member and former 
Minister of Economy Valeriu Lazar, with the 
agreement of the Alliance leaders, rejected the 
bland-technocrat formula and stated that Moldova's 
next President would not be "colorless, odorless, 
or tasteless."  A corresponding difficulty is that 
Voronin continues to denigrate his opponents in 
the language he used in the polarized, mud- 
slinging campaign (ref B) just ended.  In a July 
30 press conference, he stated that his opponents 
were "bound to outside forces, primarily various 
Romanian forces and other structures, including 
corrupt and criminal international structures." 
 
Getting to "Da" 
--------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) Beyond the electoral exhaustion felt by 
many Moldovans and the crying need for a 
functioning government to deal with a sea of 
troubles, several factors may be pushing Voronin 
and the PCRM to hand over the eight votes needed 
to elect a president.  First, the PCRM may be 
willing to concede the spoils to the victor -- a 
move that could be portrayed as generous, and 
which would prevent a third round of national 
elections following failure to elect a president. 
Such a move might also be a form of self- 
protection, since the general trend in the PCRM 
vote-share has been downwards, and might continue 
in a third round seen by many as caused by PCRM 
stubbornness.  In a recent interview with a 
Ukrainian newspaper, PCRM MP Vladimir Turcan, who 
was Deputy Speaker in the Parliament elected April 
5, signaled that the party was ready to concede 
eight votes to elect a "politically non-affiliated 
President." 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Turcan's position could be merely a 
negotiating move, one that the PCRM would be able 
to give up, graciously and as a good loser, to 
allow Lupu or Filat to become President.  As the 
PCRM is well aware, the ongoing train wreck that 
is the Moldovan economy is only going to get 
worse.  There could therefore be a real advantage 
in ceding the presidency to a prominent target, 
and rebuilding the PCRM's fortunes while 
commenting, more in sorrow than in anger, that 
pensions are not being paid and that the stability 
established under the PCRM is breaking down. 
 
 
CHAUDHRY