And the Winner Is?

Many of you know about the events that transpired here in Moldova last April. For those who don't, I'll try to give a brief summary. In April Moldova had its parliamentary elections. In such elections (which I believe take place every 4 years), Moldovans go to the polls to select their political party of choice. Each party wins a certain number of seats in the Parliament, depending on how many votes it receives. Since it is the Parliament's job to choose Moldova's president, the party that receives the most votes is the party that gets to choose the new president. So far so good, right?

Here's where it gets complicated. At the time of April's elections the incumbent "ruling" party (meaning the party that has a majority of Parliamentary seats and which the president belongs to) was the Communist party. As strange as it may sound, I live in a former Soviet republic which has a democratically-elected Communist leader. Moldovans are drastically divided on this subject. Many, especially the older generation, support the Communists because they want to retain closer ties to Russia and they want life to regain some of its former, pre-independence stability. The younger generation is anxious to ally itself with the West (i.e. Romania, the EU) and are resistant to any move they view as going "backward."

So when the Communist party won the election in April, tensions which were already running high exploded. Amidst calls of election-rigging, thousands of protesters (many of them high school and university students) poured into the capital city of Chisinau. Things spiraled out of control, with some of the protesters breaking into the Parliament building, setting it on fire and destroying furniture and valuables inside. There were also altercations between police and protesters. Dozens were injured, and two people died.

Although there was no more rioting in the following days, things stayed really tense for awhile. The Peace Corps is an apolitical organization (and we're in countries at the request of their governments), so we volunteers were instructed to stay very tight-lipped about the elections. Knowing that anything I said, regardless of how innocuous it seemed to me, might get misinterpreted, I chose not to write anything about the elections here on my blog. So why am I writing now? For two reasons: 1) Things have calmed down a lot since April. Enough that I feel like I can write about them. 2) Things haven't gotten any less interesting.

When it came time for the newly-elected Parliament to choose a new president, they reached an impasse. Even though the Communist party technically had a majority of parliamentary seats, they didn't have the 61 votes required by the Moldovan Constitution to select a president. So a repeat parliamentary election was called for. A couple weeks ago Moldovans once again went to the polls. Events unfolded differently this time around--the Communists got about 45% of the vote, while the combined total of the four main opposition parties (who have pledged to form an alliance to select a new president) was just over 50%. And this time around there was no protesting or violence. But how things go from here remains unclear.

This election's "winners" are in the same boat that the Communist party was in last spring. They have more seats in Parliament than their opponents, but they don't have enough seats to choose a president. So what will happen if the voting for a new president once again ends at an impasse? I have no idea. I don't even know if the Moldovan Constitution has instructions on what to do for occasions such as this.

The point of this post is not to share any opinions about how things have turned out. Even if I was permitted by the PC to make such statements, I don't feel like I have the right. I'm not Moldovan. Even though I live here and I care deeply about the welfare of this country, I do not have a shared history of struggle and disappointment with these people. And I won't have to live with the long-term consequences (be they good or bad) of the choices made now. I'm not a character in this story.

That being said, I think it's a fascinating thing to feel like I stepped into a history book. Even if I am just an observer, I'm watching the growth of a new nation. Coming from a country that's existed officially for over 200 years, that's a true privilege. And I just want to share a little bit of that experience. I hope you all appreciate it too.