Moldova Has Not Evolved Democratically the Previous Year, According to the Freedom House Study “Nations in Transit”

Moldova has maintained its last year’s score in the Freedom House “Nations in Transit 2018” Report, accumulating 4.93 points on a scale of 1 to 7, where 1 means “most democratic” and 7 means “least democratic.” Our country also maintained the last year’s score in the compartment of independent media, getting 5 points on the same scale.

The study analyzes the situation in 29 post-communist countries in Central Europe and Central Asia according to 7 main indicators: National Democratic Governance, Electoral Process, Civil Society, Independent Media, Local Democratic Governance, Judicial Framework and Independence, and Corruption. Based on these indicators, the average score is being calculated, showing the evolution of democracy in each country.

The result obtained by Moldova this year – 4.93 points – is the third among Eastern Partnership countries, after Ukraine (4.64) and Georgia (4.68). The other members of the EaP got lower scores in terms of level of democracy: Armenia – 5.43, Belarus – 6.61, Azerbaijan – 6.93.
Romania ranks better in terms of evolution of democracy, with 3.46 points, while Russia got a score of 6.61 points.
Among former Soviet countries, the Baltic States have the best situation regarding the development of democracy: Estonia – 1.82; Latvia – 2.07; Lithuania – 2.36.

The indicator of Independent Media in the case of Moldova is lower than country index, representing 5 points. This score was influenced by various issues faced by national media – concentration in the media, imperfection of the legal framework, presence of manipulation and disinformation in the media, monopolization of the advertising market, etc.
Ukraine, Georgia, and Romania have a better score, of 4.25. Estonia is the leader in this rating, with 1.50 points, while Latvia and Lithuania accumulated 2.00 and 2.25 points in terms of Independent Media, respectively. Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan are at the other pole among the 29 countries in the study, with 7 points each. Russia has a score of 6.50 in this category.

“Nations in Transit” is a Freedom House project of research on democratic developments in 29 former communist countries on the territory lying between Central Europe and Central Asia. Since 1995, the project has been annually presenting a report on democratic developments in these countries, based on assessments made by national and international experts.