MOLDOVA: Communist dominance of Moldova received a setback with the re-election of the capital's popular mayor, writes Chris Stephen from Chisinau
Moldova's anti-Communist opposition toasted success yesterday when the mayor of the capital, Chisinau, held on to office in elections despite claims by monitors of "dirty tricks" by the authorities.
The popular Mr Serafim Urechean (63) won a run-off with 53 per cent of the votes, beating the 46 per cent for Communist candidate Mr Vasile Zgardan.
But voting has been overshadowed by allegations from observers of manipulation by Moldova's Communist government.
A report by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe on the run-up to the election accuses the authorities of using police, media and other organs of power against the opposition.
Two mayoral candidates elsewhere were arrested on corruption charges days before polling and Mr Urechean was also threatened with arrest if he refused to testify as a witness in a case he had no direct involvement with.
"Regardless of the substance of the accusations, the timing of the arrests raises serious concerns," said the OSCE.
Meanwhile, opponents have accused the police of rounding up their canvassers and even using anti-riot powers to break up legitimate election rallies.
Some of the accusations are bizarre - including one from a group of three opposition parties that their key election rally, due to be held in the national opera house, was cancelled after pressure from the Culture Ministry.
Meanwhile, a senior editor of state news agency Moldova Press, Ms Cornelia Cozonac, has accused Communist President Vladimir Voronin's office of pressuring her into writing distorted news.
"If the Communists take power on the local level as well, Moldova is going to have a totalitarian regime," said Mr Stefan Uritu, chairman of the Helsinki Moldova Committee for Human Rights.
For now, this will not happen: the laid-back Mr Urechean will become a rallying-point for the opposition parties. Yesterday he insisted he wanted to work with the government, announcing: "This will be for the benefit of Chisinau residents." President Voronin also pledged to co-operate with the mayor.
Mr Urechean's rule of Chisinau has its quirky side and he is not afraid of a bit of self-publicity: street maps in the dusty tree-lined city centre each come with a picture of the beaming silver-haired mayor and his homespun slogans: "In Moldova more insistently the group of the true businessmen are getting more and more professional," reads the slogan on one billboard-sized map.
Elsewhere in Moldova, it is a different story. Communist candidates have done well in voting seen as an important barometer of their popularity two years after coming to power.
As in other parts of Eastern Europe, the Communists have prospered as the economic situation has worsened.
Moldova, once part of the Soviet Union, is officially Europe's poorest country.
It is best known in the West as the origin of human trafficking, especially of sex slaves.
But these cases are only a small part of a massive annual migration: currently 600,000 Moldovans, out of a population of three million, are working outside the country.
Economic problems dominate - eclipsing gripes about the ethnic Russian separatists who continue to control a slice of territory, Trans Dnistr, they set up in 1992.
When Moldova was part of the Soviet Union, the economy flourished. Now tractors have no fuel and no parts and Moldova's fertile fields lie idle.
Some of the best wine in Eastern Europe is still produced at the Cricova vineyards - but exports are strangled by customs tariffs from both East and West.
The Communists have lately made themselves hugely popular with a single measure - raising pensions and paying them on time.
"A large band of voters are old people who do remember the old system," said Mr Michael Wygant, head of the OSCE's observer mission.
But Western diplomats worry that the pensions were paid for with loans Moldova can ill afford.
And while Mr Urechean is popular, and likely to be a thorn in the side of the government, most here think the country's problems are too deep for even a good-humoured mayor to fix.