Moldovans go concomitantly eastward and westward, poll

The percentage of Moldovans who would vote for joining the EU if a referendum was held is falling. At least these are the results of a survey done by the Institute of Marketing and Polling (IMAS) between December 10 and 23 this year, compared to a survey done in March 2011. Meanwhile, the popularity of the Eastern option for Moldova’s development is rising. A big part of respondents opt for both West and East, Info-Prim Neo reports. IMAS director Doru Petruti declared during a press conference on Thursday, December 29, that the results were probably influenced by events in the EU. “The voting intention for the EU dropped. It was 62% in March and fell to 50% in December 2011. The number of those would vote against joining the EU in case of a referendum is on the rise”, said Doru Petruti. Doru Petruti noted that for the first time the poll included a question about Moldova joining the Russia-Belarus-Kazakhstan Union. 45% of respondents would vote for it, which is slightly less than in the EU case. 20% are undecided, 13% didn’t answer, 13% would vote against and 8% wouldn’t vote at all. “When doing a combined analysis of options for EU and Russia-Belarus-Kazakhstan Union, we found many persons who would want to be in both unions. We want to unite with someone somewhere and it doesn't really matter whom”, the IMAS director interpreted the data. As to Moldova joining NATO, things remain the same. Should a referendum be organized, the voting intention is 20%, while 41% would vote against. The “Social-political round-up of 2011” was commissioned by www.politik.md. It was conducted on a sample of 1109 persons from 75 selected localities. The maximum error margin is ±3.0%.