Moldova: Question of Power

To most of Europe, the Republic of Moldova has been a zone of unhappiness rather than interest. Since the election of communist President Vladimir Voronin in 2001, the dominance of governing clans has further corroded the country's political and economic life, but not in away to make Europe question the government's democratic credentials. And so it was after the parliamentary elections ofApril 5, when the qualified endorsement of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe was read without a murmur by almost everyone except the political opposition in Moldova itself. It worries about an authoritarian outcome and storm clouds on the international horizon.