Vladimir Voronin
President

(pronounced "vlah-DEE-mear va-ROH-nin")

"The participation of the voters, and their voice, will make it possible to change the situation fundamentally. I mean changing the situation fundamentally so that all the reforms being conducted should have a beginning and an end, so that all these shortcomings over the past 10 years of democratic reforms are suspended and the necessary, correct direction is taken in the republic's development."

The Republic of Moldova (formerly named the Moldovan SSR), the second smallest of the former Soviet republics, straddles the River Dniestr (pronounced NYEH-stir) in the center of Europe. It borders Romania and Ukraine and lies adjacent to a small portion of the Black Sea. Its total land area is 33,843 sq km (13,066 sq mi). Moldova's total population was estimated at over 4.7 million in 2003, of which 64.5% are Moldovan/Romanian, 13.8% Ukrainian, 13% Russian, 3.5% Gagauzi, 2% Bulgarian, and the remainder...