Moldova becomes electoral topic in Romanian presidential election

November 03, 2009

Subscribe to: RSS, Email

Mircea Geoana, the Social Democratic Party's presidential candidate, said during an energy forum on Monday that he would like a "strategic partnership" with Moldova, which would include "a very important economic accent."

Mr. Geoana added that he would like Romania to scrap visa fees for Moldovans and adopt a law on citizenship quickly.

Financiarul has a full story about this topic in English.

Mr. Geoana's statements may not have a huge impact on the electoral preferences of Romanian citizens residing in Moldova, however, because his main rival - incumbent Traian Basescu - is very well-liked here.

During the 2009 European Parliament elections, Mr. Basescu's party - the Democratic Liberal Party - and Mr. Basescu's daughter Elena, who ran as an independent but then joined the Democratic Liberals in the EP, won about 80 percent of the vote cast by Romanian citizens residing in Moldova. In contrast, the Democratic Liberals and Ms. Basescu won a combined 35 percent nationally in Romania.

Mr. Basescu will also meet Prime Minister Vlad Filat in Bucharest on November 13-14. In addition, the Romanian President has had rather cordial relations with Chisinau's Liberal mayor Dorin Chirtoaca.

Imedia