Romanian Parties Hunt for Votes in Moldova

"EU standards cannot be implemented in Moldova if this country is not reunified with Romania" and "There are no two nations! There is one, the Romanian nation" are just two of the quotes and slogans used by Romanian politicians while campaigning in Moldova for this week's European Parliament elections.

Romanian parties have been working hard to attract potential voters' support in Moldova because more than 600,000 of about three million Moldovans are also Romanian citizens.

Romanian centre-right parties have been particularly vocal in their attempts to reach Moldovans who want reunification with Romania - around 20 per cent of the Moldovan population, surveys have suggested.

Moldovans with dual citizenship have shown in previous elections that they are increasingly interested in taking an active part in political life in neighbouring Romania, while all the big Romanian parties have political alliances with domestic parties in Moldova. Romania's centre-left Social Democratic Party, for example, has strong ties with Moldova's Democrat Party led by tycoon Vlad Plahotniuc.

The Romanian authorities will open a record number of polling stations in Moldova for these European Parliament elections, which will be held in the country on May 26. The Romanian Foreign Affairs Ministry has announced that 36 polling stations will open in Moldova, 12 of them in the capital Chisinau.

Romania will be opening a total of 441 polling stations outside the country, mostly in Italy, Spain and Germany, where there are large expatriate Romanian communities.

Romanian parties seeking votes in Moldova have been promising to help the country Moldova get closer to EU membership, or promoting unification with Romania as part of a development solution for the...