Moldova is a country located in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 33,851 square kilometers and a population of approximately 3.5 million people. The ethnic composition of Moldova is mainly Moldovan, with other minority groups including Ukrainian, Gagauz and Russian. The majority of the population are Orthodox Christians, with around 90% following Christianity and the rest being either Catholic or other faiths. Education is compulsory for children up to the age of 16 and the literacy rate is estimated to be around 99%. The official language is Romanian but there are many other languages spoken throughout the country such as Russian, Ukrainian and Gagauz. The capital city Chisinau has an estimated population of over 700,000 people making it the largest city in Moldova. Check hyperrestaurant to learn more about Moldova in 2009.
Social conditions
In line with the restructuring of the economy, payments for unemployment benefits, as well as other social contributions, have increased. Visit AbbreviationFinder to see the definitions of MDA and acronym for Moldova. At the same time, the retirement age for men has been increased to 62 years and for women to 57 years. However, the social budget is constantly threatened by low tax revenues, among other things. because one third of the country’s GDP comes from Moldavians who work abroad and do not pay taxes in Moldova. Moldova is the country in Europe that has both the lowest incomes and the highest proportion of rural residents, close to 60 percent. Rural municipalities’ poor economy has led to schools being closed and difficulties in recruiting teachers. More than one in ten teachers in the country have passed the retirement age. Although the number of college students is increasing, it is a social problem that not all rural children attend compulsory school. Compulsory health insurance has been introduced. While child mortality is declining, the country has struggled throughout the 2000s with an internationally high number of new cases of tuberculosis.
Since Romania joined the EU in 2007, up to 800,000 Moldovans have applied for Romanian citizenship. All Moldavians with at least one grandparent who in 1940 had Romanian citizenship can apply for Romanian citizenship. Check to see Moldova population.
At the parliamentary elections on April 5, 2009, the Communist Party got 49.48% of the vote. It was thus by far the largest party in the country, but still had 1 seat too little in parliament to elect the president. Already the next day the opposition went on the streets, declaring that the election had been marked by scams and that the election was to go on. The following day, the number of protesters had risen to 15,000, now attacking the parliament and the presidential palace, where windows were broken and fires burned. The protests were organized through the social network, Twitter and were therefore called the “Twitter Revolution”. The OSCE characterized the election as predominantly free and fair.
The protesters included a number of pro-Romanians who replaced the Moldovan flag in the presidency and parliament with the Romanian and EU flags. This subsequently led to a conflict with Romania, which Moldova accused of being behind the unrest. The opposition, in turn, accused the security forces of being behind the unrest. They ended up costing 2-3 people their lives, hundreds more wounded and about 800 arrested. Many could subsequently report degrading treatment by the police.
On April 10, the president announced that the votes would be counted. However, the recount gave the same result. Nevertheless, the situation was so unstable that a new parliamentary election was already held in July. The Communist Party went back to 44.69%. It was still the largest party in the country, but it got only 48 seats in parliament against the opposition’s 53. However, the opposition was also able to agree on a new president, and the parliamentary situation was therefore uncertain. On September 11, therefore, President Voronin decided to resign. In accordance with the Constitution, Liberal President Mihai Ghimpu was appointed acting president for a new president can be elected. The uncertain political situation in the country has so far prevented this.
With the appointment of Ghimpu as president, anti-communism was greatly strengthened in the country. He exercised his constitutional powers and appointed Liberal Vladimir Filat as acting prime minister.
In January 2010, Ghimpu set up a commission to study «the Communist dictatorship in Moldova». In June he instituted “the day of the Soviet occupation” and the same day he inaugurated the “Monument to the Victims of the Soviet Occupation”.
In March 2010, the Constitutional Court declared a new parliament to be re-elected to resolve the constitutional crisis of 2009. However, both the president and parliament ignored the court.
Journalist Ernest Vardanyan was arrested in April 2010 by armed men outside his house in Tiraspol, Transdniestria. He was taken into custody, charged with high treason in the form of espionage. On May 11, the most important TV station in Transdniestria broadcast an interview with the Minister of State Security, Vladimir Antyufeyev. In the interview, the minister accused Vardanyan of espionage, and then a clip was shown with the journalist who allegedly confirmed the minister’s indictment and “regretted his terrible mistake”. Amnesty International objected to the authorities, finding that the confession was likely to be triggered by pressure and in any case would have no weight in a lawsuit.