MOLDOVA…

Democratic centralism is making a comeback. Facing economic disaster with Jacobin ineptitude, about ninety of the 101 deputies in Moldova’s unicameral parliament amended the constitution to strip the people of their power and subordinate the executive branch, the courts and the media to the legislature. In a series of votes July 5, popular election of the president was abolished. Parliament will choose the successor to President Petru Lucinschi, who will leave office in January, by a three-fifths vote. Parliament will also name the cabinet, the members of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court, the general prosecutor, head of the Audit Chamber and the top management of national radio and television. The parliament itself is not directly elected. People vote for parties, and the parties name the deputies. Because the Communist Party got close to 40 percent of the vote in the last election, 40 seats went to persons named by the party’s leadership. Because a party must receive at least 6 percent of the national vote to be represented at all, the four parties now in the parliament are likely to retain control after the next election, which is not until 2002. The Communist Party seems likely to dominate Moldova’s government for years to come.