The Economist - A Moldovan fiasco

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A Moldovan fiasco

Sep 6th 2010, 8:08 by The Economist | BUCHAREST

NO-ONE expected this. Exit polls for yesterday's referendum in Moldova on direct presidential elections put the “yes” vote at 87%—but then the bad news started to emerge. Preliminary turnout figures late last night showed that only 30.4% of registered voters showed up; just under the 33% legal threshold for a valid vote.

“If all the citizens who visited our webpage between 21.00 and 22.00 hrs—1.5m—had also cast their vote, then the referendum would have been valid,” Iurie Ciocan of the country's electoral committee said during a press conference. “The interest for this referendum was very high among the viewers, but not the voters.”

The country's acting president, Mihai Ghimpu, and Vladimir Filat, the prime minister, blamed the defeat on a boycott call from the Communist opposition. But the pair, both leaders of (different) Liberal parties, which is part of the pro-western Alliance for European Integration (AEI), also admitted a “lack of coherence” among the pro-yes parties as they opted to campaign independently instead of a common platform. “There was a lack of unity in this campaign from the side of the Alliance,” Mr Ghimpu said.

None of the leaders accepted personal responsibility, however. “For one month, there was not one single word said about the importance of this referendum,” said Marian Lupu, a former Communist whose splinter Democratic Party joined the AEI last year. “Some politicians thought the result was safe and started to campaign for parliamentary and presidential elections.”

Meanwhile, on the streets of Chisinau, the capital, Mr Lupu's photo prominently featured on billboards advertising the slogan: “The president has to be elected by the people.”

If the plebiscite is invalidated today, once all votes are counted, the acting president will dissolve the parliament and call for early elections. The new legislature will then try to elect a president, an exercise which failed several times last year as the ruling coalition was unable to woo enough of the Communist votes needed to install their candidate, the same Mr Lupu.

But the low turnout is a bad omen for the frail four-party AEI, indicating growing public dissatisfaction with the reformist government, more than a year after the Communists were ousted from power. This despite fresh overtures from the European Commission, a new loan from the IMF and improved relations with neighbouring Romania.

A big part of the electorate still seems to be looking up to former president Vladimir Voronin, who ruled the country from 2001 until last year. In April 2009, he ordered a brutal crackdown on demonstrators, mostly students, who were exasperated that the Communists looked set to stay in power after a round of allegedly rigged elections. Mr Voronin stepped down and fresh elections were held, with the AEI winning by a slim margin.

In November's parliamentary elections, however, the pro-western parties will have to pull themselves together or give in to a Communist comeback. Young protesters are unlikely to fill the streets again.