PRO-RUSSIAN candidates won presidential elections in Moldova and Bulgaria on November 13th—or so the headlines read. The truth in both countries was more complicated. Although the winning candidates in both countries have made friendly overtures to Moscow, neither will make any radical changes in geopolitical orientation in the short term. The power of the presidents in both countries is limited. Some of their supporters seem to be hoping that Russia will subsidise their countries’ struggling economies. Such hopes are destined to be disappointed.
In Moldova the winner is Igor Dodon, the leader of the Socialists, who are the largest party in parliament but not part of the coalition government. Mr Dodon took 52.3% of the vote, against 47.7% for Maia Sandu, a former World Bank adviser and education minister who campaigned on an anti-corruption platform. As minister of education from 2012 to 2015, Ms Sandu gained popularity by stamping out bribery in the school system, and polls show she is seen as the least corrupt politician in the country.
Mr Dodon’s side bused several thousand residents of the breakaway Russian-controlled...Continue reading
from Europe http://ift.tt/2eymIzg
via https://ifttt.com/ IFTTT
No comments:
Post a Comment