Incoming Moldovan president rallies supporters to demand snap parliamentary vote

Sandu Pharmaceuticals

06/12/2020 13:04

By Alexander Tanas
    CHISINAU, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Thousands of supporters of
incoming Moldovan president Maia Sandu rallied in Chisinau on
Sunday to demand a snap parliamentary election, accusing
parliament of trying to sabotage her ability to fight
corruption. 
    Sandu, a former World Bank economist who favours closer ties
with the European Union, defeated the pro-Moscow incumbent Igor
Dodon in a run-off vote last month but will share power with a
parliament and government run by lawmakers aligned with Dodon.
    The eastern European country of 3.5 million, where the West
and Russia vie for influence, has been rocked in recent years by
instability and corruption scandals, including the disappearance
of $1 billion from the banking system.
    Sandu's supporters protested after parliament on Thursday
hastily pushed through a law to strip her of control of the
intelligence service.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2IJ14P
    The move was backed by the Socialist party, which Dodon used
to lead and is the largest in parliament, and the party of Ilan
Shor, a businessman convicted of fraud and money-laundering in
connection to the $1 billion bank scandal. 
    Shor denies wrongdoing and is fighting an appeal against his
conviction.  
    "This majority adopts laws that strip the powers of the
president so that we cannot fight corruption and thieves. These
laws are intended to preserve the criminal schemes of thieves,"
Sandu said at Sunday's rally. 
    "We will go to the end until we cleanse the country of
corrupt officials."
    Waving Moldovan flags and shouting "to prison" and "resign",
the protesters called for parliament to be dissolved and Sandu
to set the date for a snap election. 
    Parliament also passed legislation at the first reading that
would give special status to the Russian language, which is
widely spoken alongside Romanian in the country that borders
Ukraine and EU member state Romania. It also lifted restrictions
on broadcasting Russian TV channels.
    Separately on Sunday, hundreds of farmers parked tractors
and combine harvesters on the outskirts of Chisinau to protest a
hike in value added tax (VAT) in the government's 2021 budget. 

 (Reporting by Alexander Tanas, Writing by Matthias Williams;
editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
 ((matthias.williams@thomsonreuters.com;))