Protests against the April 2009 Moldovan parliamentary election results began on 6 April 2009 in major cities of Moldova (including Bălți and the capital, Chișinău) before the final official results were announced. The demonstrators claimed that the election, which saw the governing Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova (PCRM) win a majority of seats, were fraudulent, and alternatively demanded a recount, a new election, or resignation of the government. Similar demonstrations took place in other major Moldovan cities, including the country's second largest, Bălți, where over 1,000 people protested.
The protests and wave of violence is sometimes described as the "grape revolution" but the term was not used much by outsiders; in Moldova, it is sometimes referred as the Chisinău Uprising (). Some of the protesters discussed and organized themselves using Twitter, hence its moniker used by the media, the Twitter Revolution."Twitter Revolution: Fearing Uprising, Russia Backs Moldova's Communists", Der Spiegel, 10 April 2009."Moldova's "Twitter Revolution"", RFE/RL, 8 April 2009.Şapte ani de la „revoluţia Twitter“ de la Chişinău. Tatăl lui Valeriu Boboc, tânărul care a murit în Piaţa Marii Adunări Naţionale: „7 aprilie e o taină“. adevarul.ro In Chișinău, where the number of protesters rose above 30,000, the demonstration escalated into a riot on 7 April. Rioters attacked the parliament building and presidential office, breaking windows, setting furniture on fire and stealing property.
Background
The unrest began as a public protest after the announcement of preliminary election results on 6 April 2009, which showed the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova victorious, winning approximately 50% of the votes. Final results, published on 8 April, showed that the PCRM garnered 49.48% of the vote, gaining 60 parliament seats – one less than the three-fifths required for the party to control the presidential election. The opposition rejected the election results, accusing the authorities of falsification in the course of counting the votes and demanded new elections."30 000 de protestatari au spart uşile Parlamentului şi ale Preşedinţiei", UNIMEDIA, 7 April. "Eyewitness: Moldova protests", BBC, 8 April.
The PCRM had been in power since 2001. A series of protests had been organized by opposition parties in 2003, when the government attempted to replace the school subject "History of the Romanians" with "History of Moldova". Students protested for months before the government backed down on its plans.«Le problème identitaire au coeur de la crise en Moldavie», Le Figaro, 15 April 2009.
Petru Negură, a university professor of sociology at the Moldova State University and the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences, France, attributed the origins of the crisis to the ethnic identity problem: some people in Moldova identify themselves as "Moldovans", while others as "Romanians".
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) International Election Observing Mission declared the elections generally free and fair, although it also reported that the comparison of data on the voting age population provided by the Moldovan Ministry of the Interior with the number of registered voters provided by local executive authorities revealed a discrepancy of some 160,000."Statement of Preliminary Findings and Conclusions", International Election Observation Mission, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, 6 April 2009. Accessed 2009-07-22. Archived 2009-07-31. A member of the OSCE observation team, Emma Nicholson disagreed with the assessment of the OSCE report on the fairness of the elections."Romania blamed over Moldova riots", BBC, 8 April 2009.
A number of voters have also reported cases of fraud where deceased and nonattendant persons were registered as having voted. "Cum votează morţii în Republica Moldova" , cotidianul.ro, 8 April 2009. "Fraude Non-stop: semnături false în liste" , Ziarul de Gardă, 8 April 2009. "Revolta anticomunista in Republica Moldov", HotNews.ro, 8 April 2009.
According to Vladimir Socor, a political analyst for the Jamestown Foundation, the elections were evaluated as positive on the whole, with some reservations not affecting the outcome or the overall initial assessment. Exit polls had shown a comfortable win for the Communist Party, with the only uncertainty being the size of the winning margin.
Opposition parties pointed out that the lists of eligible voters included 300,000 more people compared to the previous elections, although the population of Moldova has been shrinking."Moldova threatens Europe’s eastern overtures", Financial Times, 17 April 2009. Due to this, they claimed that around 400,000 fictive voters had been created in the previous two months and that this changed the voting result. "În două luni au fost clonaţi 400 de mii de moldoveni ", Timpul, 15 April 2009. Accessed 2009-07-22. 2009-07-31. It was also claimed that the authorities had printed more than one voting bulletin for certain persons., 10 April 2009.
Demonstration and riot
The first demonstrations, organized as a flashmob by a 25-year-old Moldovan journalist Natalia Morar, began in Chișinău on 6 April 2009, with a larger number of demonstrators arriving on the next day, 7 April. The demonstration, numbering over ten thousand, most of them students and young people, gathered in the city center on Ștefan cel Mare boulevard.Noam Cohen, "Moldovans Turn to Twitter to Organize Protests", The Lede, a New York Times blog, 7 April 2009."Protests in Moldova: Moldova burning", The Economist, 8 April 2009. The protest against the announced election results turned into clashes with the police, who used tear gas and water cannons. However, the police were soon overwhelmed by the number of the protesters."Moldovans try to burn parliament in protest at 'rigged' poll", The Scotsman, 8 April 2009. Rioters broke into the nearby parliament building and the office of president. Entering the building through broken windows, demonstrators set parts of the building on fire, using documents and furniture both inside and outside. The building was retaken by the police later in the evening."Police retake Moldova parliament", BBC, 7 April 2009.
The protesters, some of which carried Romanian flags, chanted pro-Western, pro-Romanian and anti-government slogans such as "We want Europe", "We are Romanians" and "Down with Communism"."Anti-Communist Protests in Moldova", The New York Times, 7 April 2009.
Two teenagers, Ion Galațchi and Dragoș Mustețea, with the alleged approval of the policemen, replaced the Flags of Moldova at the Presidential and Parliament buildings with a Flag of Romania and a Flag of Europe, claiming that they expected that this would calm the crowd."Imagini privind arborarea Tricolorului" , UNIMEDIA, 16 November 2009. "“Eroul” de la Chişinău s-a autodenunţat la televiziunea lui Iurie Roşca (Video)", Cotidianul, 13 April 2009.
The emergency hospital of Chișinău reported treating over 78 injured police officers and protesters on 8 April, "La Spitalul de urgenţă din Chişinău s-au adresat 78 de răniţi" , Noutati Moldova, 8 April 2009. while the Moldovan president stated that 270 people were injured in the riots. "Revolta de la Chişinău. Ziua III", EVZ.ro, 8 April 2009. Moldovan opposition called on the authorities to carry out new elections and on the demonstrators to cease violence. Moldovan national television had initially reported that a young woman died of carbon monoxide poisoning due to the fires within the parliament building set off by the rioters. However, it was later reported that the woman was saved by a team of medics. "Пострадавшая при пожаре в Кишиневе девушка выжила", Interfax, 7 April 2009.
On the evening of 7 April, a group of protesters organised a National Salvation Committee, consisting of student and civic representatives. Writer Nicolae Dabija, a vice-president of the committee said that the intended purpose of the committee is to organise new elections. "La Chişinău a fost organizat un Comitet al Salvării Naţionale", Realitatea, 8 April 2009.
On 7 April, Serafim Urechean, leader of the opposition Party Alliance Our Moldova, during a meeting with President Voronin said that the riots were orchestrated by security services.Caolson, Robert, "Chişinău Unrest Exposes Moldova's Fault Lines", Radio Free Europe, 9 April 2009. Accessed 2009-07-22. Archived 2009-07-31. However, former Moldovan President Petru Lucinski believes the violence was the spontaneous result of the actions of leaderless youths frustrated with the waning of Moldovan democracy. He said that there is no need to look further to explain the unrest and the movement "didn't have any leaders, one part went in one direction, a peaceful one and another part took a violent turn."
Protests of solidarity with demonstrators in Chișinău took place in Cimișlia, Bălți, Ungheni and other Moldovan cities.
The protests continued on Sunday, 12 April, when around 3,000 protesters gathered in the central square where the mayor of Chișinău, Dorin Chirtoacă, held a speech about how Moldova's youth reject Communism because they "understand that their future has been stolen". However, the students were notably absent from the crowd, having been sanctioned for their participation in the previous protests."Moldovan Capital’s Mayor Speaks Against Communism", The New York Times, 12 April 2009.
Arrests and accusations of torture On the night following 7 April, around 1 am, police forces routed the remaining crowds in the main square and arrested about 200 participants. On the following day, more arrests were issued, with demonstrators beaten and transported away in police cars. Similarly, footage showed demonstrators getting dragged away and beaten by what appears to be plain-clothes police officers."Protesters Beaten In Moldova", Radio Free Europe, 9 April 2009. Accessed 2009-07-22. Archived 2009-07-31. Among the protesters to be hospitalized after being beaten was Andrei Ivanțoc, formerly a political prisoner in Transnistria."Andrei Ivantoc was a victim of police", Moldova Azi, 17 April 2009. Accessed 2009-07-22. Archived 2009-07-31. An independent MP, Valentina Cușnir, was near the main street of Chișinău at about midnight on 7 April. She reported that she was abused by a police officer.
Amnesty International accused the Moldovan government of violating human rights through the actions of the police, that it detained indiscriminately hundreds of protesters, including minors, who were subjected to torture and other ill-treatment. The organization issued a memorandum to the Moldovan government about this case."Memorandum: Amnesty International's concerns relating to policing during and after the events of 7 April 2009 in Chişinău", at Amnesty International.
On 9 April, the Moldovan Prosecutor General's Office asked Ukraine to extradite Gabriel Stati, a Moldovan businessman whom the Moldovan government accused of being involved in the organization and financing of the civil unrest."Moldova asks Ukraine to extradite businessman Stati", Kyiv Post, 9 April 2009. Stati was in Ukrainian custody along with another suspect, Aurel Marinescu, for their alleged "involvement in organizing an attempt to overthrow the Moldovan government." On 16 April, the General Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine approved the extradition of Stati and Marinescu."PO extraditing Moldovans involved in Chişinău mass unrest", Ukrainian Radio. Accessed 2009-07-22. Archived 2009-07-31.