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Moldova, Facing Violent Protests, Agrees to Vote Recount

By VOA News
07 April 2009

Moldovan authorities, facing violent student protests in the capital, have agreed to hold a recount of disputed parliamentary election returns.

The government announced the recount Tuesday evening, hours after rioters stormed the offices of President Vladimir Voronin and seized the parliament building in the capital of the ex-Soviet state.

Opposition leaders had been demanding new elections, claiming Sunday's polls were rigged to ensure a Communist Party victory.

Earlier Tuesday, demonstrators, mostly students, overwhelmed police guarding government facilities in Chisinau. They smashed parliament windows and set fire to furniture inside the building as outnumbered police retreated from the scene.

Moldovan television says a woman died of carbon monoxide poisoning. Reports say more than 20 people, both police and protesters, were reported injured.

Security forces used tear gas and water cannon against crowds protesting outside the presidential residence.

The students say they see no future if communists maintain power in the country of four million residents, that is wedged between Ukraine and Romania.

Television footage showed protesters, some carrying Moldovan or Romanian flags, ransacking the legislature, while several bloodied police officers evacuated the building.

Moldova's outgoing President Voronin, a communist, is to step down Tuesday after two consecutive terms. The new parliament is then scheduled to vote on his successor.

Monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said Sunday's elections met many democratic standards.

That evaluation came Monday, as vote tallies showed communists winning an absolute majority in the legislature.

Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, whose government maintains strong ties with Moldovan leaders, has already congratulated Mr. Voronin on his party's win. The Russian Foreign Ministry Tuesday said it was "deeply concerned" by the rioting.

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana called attacks on government buildings unacceptable and urged all sides to refrain from violence.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.