Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin's signature on the March 18 Moscow declaration, with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Transnistria's leader Igor Smirnov (Interfax, Russian MFA website, March 18, 19; EDM, March 20, 25), amounts to a surrender in the final days of Voronin's presidency. This political... MORE

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's March 18 meeting with Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin and Transnistria leader Igor Smirnov (EDM, March 20) was designed to mark a qualitatively new stage in the long-running negotiations on the Transnistria conflict. While continuing to block the conflict resolution negotiations, Russia... MORE

Moldova's Social-Democrat Party is being led by the tandem of former Prime Minister Dumitru Braghis (1999-2001) and young businessman-politician Eduard Musuc in these elections. The party targets both Moldovan and "Russian-speaking" voters. Accordingly, it promises to seek an association agreement with the EU, a strategic... MORE

Apparently panicking in the run-up to the April 5 elections, Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin has hoisted the white flag of surrender on Transnistria in return for a pre-election endorsement from the Kremlin. The president can not run for a third term of office but his... MORE

Moldova's opposition parties are small and leader-centered. Most of the opposition parties compete against one another for the same segments of the electorate or for overlapping segments. In these cases party labels are also often irrelevant or misleading. For a country that does not have... MORE

Moldova will hold parliamentary elections on April 5, and its new parliament will elect the new president and confirm a new government. Incumbent President Vladimir Voronin's second, final term of office expires in April. The transition process ahead will severely test the country's weak political... MORE

The first meeting since 2001 between Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin and Transnistrian “president” Igor Smirnov (see EDM, April 168) marked the resumption of direct negotiations between Chisinau and Tiraspol after a seven-year hiatus. This direct channel might lead to a quick resumption of the international... MORE

Negotiations between Chisinau and Tiraspol toward resolving the conflict in Transnistria have restarted after a pause of almost seven years. Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin met “Transnistria’s president” Igor Smirnov on secessionist-controlled territory on April 11. With Voronin fixated on resolving the conflict in 2008 while... MORE