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'Democracy' – a contemporary Moldavian Republic reading

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The Republic of Moldova, Europe’s poorest country, is currently shaken by widespread anti-government protests for the eighth week in a row - writes Vlad Olteanu. Against a backdrop of deepening crises, unprecedented increases in gas and electricity prices and record inflation of almost 35 percent, tens of thousands of people are gathering every Sunday in Moldova's capital to demand the resignation of the PAS government and that of President Maia Sandu. They accuse the government of a series of incompetent decisions, of several abuses, as well as of failing to honor its campaign pledges, the very pledges for which it was elected in the first place. 

At the forefront of these protesters seems to be the "SHOR" party, a party which became the most visible opposition to the current Moldavian regime. Since the last parliamentary elections, when the party won six parliament seats, its electoral score tripled making it now the second most popular party in the country.

Weaponizing justice?

Three weeks ago, the protests reached a boiling point when police and special services brutally stormed the protesters and forcibly evicted hundreds of tents set up by demonstrators in front of the Parliament and of the Presidency buildings in the capital, Chisinau.

The police intervention came shortly after the Commission for Exceptional Situations tightened legislation on protests and granted extra rights to police to disperse demonstrators. The decision was strongly criticised by protest organisers, who said that in doing so, the PAS government was undermining democratic principles and seriously violating fundamental human rights. Representatives of the "SHOR" Party accused the PAS government of turning itself into a dictatorial regime and of using the Interior Ministry, ISS and the Prosecutor's Office as a stick against the protesters.

The concern of the "SHOR" Party was also shared by a number of international human rights organisations in Moldova, which condemned police abuses against protesters and the forced eviction of the protesters’ tents. These organisations include several well-reputed NGOs such as Amnesty International Moldova, the Centre for Policy and Reform, Promo-LEX Association and the Embassy of Human Rights. PAS abuses have also been condemned by the People's Advocate of the Republic of Moldova.

Meanwhile, the unprecedented pressure from the ruling party on the president of the most active Moldavian opposition party, Mr. Ilan Shor, is constantly growing, resulting in different sanctions and ever more disputable judicial measures. Personal public appeals from Mrs. Maia Sandu and key members of the ruling PAS party, addressed to the prosecutors and judges, to “finalise as quickly as possible” Mr. Shor’s court cases are also to be noted and seem to show that expedited justice, rather than proper justice, is what the current Moldavian government runs after.

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Mr. Shor is not alone in supporting unjustified political pressure. Around 30 leaders of the anti-government protests were also detained and placed in custody in the last few months. Among them is one of the "SHOR" Party most active members, vice – president and member of the Moldavian Parliament Mrs. Marina Tauber, who was arrested in July on charges relating to illegal party funding. Her arrest and imprisonment was described as an abuse of the Moldavian government by the human rights organisation Solidaritätsnetz International, a member of the prestigious Swiss group Solidarity Network. The said organisation classified Mrs. Tauber as a political prisoner as her imprisonment violated, in their opinion, at least two international human rights conventions. These are Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (United Nations) and Article 5 of the Rome Convention.

PAS, a ruling party caught between energy crisis and image crisis

While people's discontent reached alarming heights, generated by the growing crisis and the rising prices, which have, for some goods, exceeded hundreds of percent, during the seven weeks of protests, representatives of the ruling PAS as well as Mrs. Maia Sandu, personally, have categorically refused to discuss the protesters' demands. Instead, they labelled such demands as unfounded, and have suggested that the protesters go to work instead of protesting. Go to work, to gain much less and face an ever-growing inflation. Go back to poverty, one may resume.

The president's accusations come at a time when, since her party came to power, gas prices have risen sevenfold, electricity - threefold, fuel prices have doubled and inflation has reached 35 percent, the highest in Europe, higher even than in war-torn Ukraine.

Under the current conditions, protests will probably continue. This is because, in addition to the existing crises, Moldova is facing an unprecedented energy crisis and risks running out of electricity and/or gas in the coming winter. Ukraine stopped exporting electricity to Moldova and Gazprom, with whom the government has a gas supply contract, has significantly reduced the volume of gas sent to Chisinau.

Meanwhile, the popularity of President Maia Sandu and the ruling party is steadily declining. The latest polls show that PAS popularity has dropped twofold to below 20 percent, more than 22 percentage points lower than its score at the last summer's parliamentary elections.

Will Moldova find a way out of this crisis via a democratic and peaceful power transition? And, if yes, soon enough to be able to redress economically and pacify socially and politically?

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