Moldova - Political background

The area which incorporates Moldova is known as Bessarabia, which is geographically delimited by the Prut River on the west, the Dniestr on the north and east, the Black Sea on the southeast, and the Chilian arm of the Danube delta on the south. This entire area, Bessarabia, became an integral part of the Romanian principality of Moldova in the fourteenth century. In 1812 it was ceded to Russia by the Ottoman Empire and was incorporated into the Russian empire. Russia retained control of the region until World War I, with the exception of a strip of southern Bessarabia. In December 1917 the Moldovan Democratic Republic was established, and in March 1918 the rest of Bessarabia declared its independence and united with Romania.

In June 1940, as a consequence of the Nazi-Soviet pact, Soviet troops occupied Bessarabia. The Soviet government then split Bessarabia into several parts. The Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic was created (August 1940) out of the central districts of Bessarabia and a strip of Ukrainian territory on the eastern side of the Dniestr River. Under Stalin Moldova was subject to intense Russification. The Moldovan language could only be written with the Cyrillic alphabet. Moldova suffered organized famine, deportation of national leaders to Siberia, attempts to eradicate the national identity, and forcible collectivization and industrialization of agricultural lands. Until 1988 the Communist Party of Moldova, part of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, was the only political party allowed to function.

The dramatic events that dismantled the Soviet Union affected Moldova as well as other Soviet republics. In May 1990 the Republic of Moldova's Supreme Soviet abolished clauses in article six of the republic's Constitution that had guaranteed the Communist Party a monopoly of power. The government also instituted important changes, including the reintroduction of the Latin alphabet, and on 23 May 1991, changed the state's official name from Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic (Moldovan SSR) to the Republic of Moldova. On 27 August 1991, taking advantage of a failed coup in Moscow, the Parliament in Kishinev unanimously adopted a resolution proclaiming the independence of the Republic of Moldova.

The road to independence has been marked by sharp inter-ethnic conflict. The Turkic-speaking Gagauz minority declared independence and announced the creation of a separate republic, Gagauzia, in the southern part of Moldova in August 1990. A month later the majority Russian population in the eastern section of the Dniestr valley created the Dniestr Soviet Republic. Both secessions were declared void by the government.

The conflict between ethnic Russians and Moldovans flared up again in March 1992. Armed confrontation began after Moldovan nationalists intensified a campaign to unite with neighboring Romania. The Russian population feared that such a merger would make them second-class citizens in Romania. More than 150 deaths preceded the ceasefire of July 1992. The Dniestr Republic leadership is dominated by hardline Communists and nationalists who look to other hardliners in Moscow for support. They want Dniestr to be an independent state with control over foreign affairs, internal security, and defense. Moldovan authorities offer Dniestr an autonomous "special status" within Moldova that would give significant powers to the region yet not relinquish Moldova's sovereignty.

Negotiations between Gagauz and Moldovan leaders have been more successful. In 1993 Gagauz negotiators accepted a federalized framework similar to that offered to the Dniestr leadership. On 28 July 1994, the Moldovan Parliament adopted a law and negotiated with Gagauz officials, establishing a "national-territorial autonomous unit" for the Gagauz. The region has its own elected legislative and executive authorities and will be entitled to secession from Moldova in the case of Moldova's reunification with Romania.

They held their first popular elections for president of an independent Moldova in December 1991. Mircea Snegur, who ran unopposed, was elected. In February 1994 Moldova elected a new Parliament to replace the old Supreme Soviet elected in 1990. The Agrarian Democratic Party (ADP), composed largely of former Communist Party officials and collective farm chairmen, won a majority of 56 out of the 104 seats. Parliamentary elections in 1998 saw the Party of Moldovan Communists (the former ADP) win the most seats (40) but lose its absolute majority. After much squabbling between the Parliament and the directly elected president, the Parliament passed a law in 2000 establishing Moldova as a parliamentary republic and eliminating the popular election of the president. Henceforth, Parliament would choose the president from among the majority party or the ruling coalition. The first elections under this new scheme were held in February 2001. The Communists won a huge majority, taking 71 of the 101 seats. A centrist coalition called the Braghis Alliance took 19 seats and the conservative Christian Democrats won 11. No other party won enough votes to be granted seats in the Parliament.