Chess, Poker, And Kickboxing In Moldovan Politics - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty © 2009

Chess, Poker, And Kickboxing In Moldovan Politics - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty © 2009:
December 15, 2009

By Louis O'Neill

After hearing that his obituary has been published in "The New York Journal," Mark Twain famously quipped, "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated."

The same could be said of the death knell sounded for Moldova's Communist Party (PCRM) by some excited analysts after its decision to boycott last week's vote in parliament for a new president. Although the theory of a disoriented PCRM dissolving internally and melting away has a superficial appeal and some supporting evidence, there is a far more complex game playing out in Chisinau, combining elements of three-dimensional chess, no-limits poker, and bare-knuckled kickboxing.

For sure, Communist leader and former President Vladimir Voronin has had to make a difficult adjustment: He now must play "black" pieces instead of "white," reacting to political events rather than driving them. And it is likely that his general animosity toward the Alliance for European Integration (AIE) and particular dislike of defector Marian Lupu are at the forefront of his thinking.

But at the end of the day the Communists' entirely rational goal is to hang onto power by remaining indispensable to the Moldovan political process. If an analysis of the PCRM's behavior is divorced from projections of emotionality or wishful thinking, it can be evaluated as a hard-headed but highly risky strategy. more