There is indeed an undeclared information war between the parties of the Pro-European Coalition. It is fought on several fronts – TV channels, the Internet, the print media. Even if such a practice seems natural, in the long run these instruments can have side effects even on those who use them. Such an opinion was stated in the debate “Why does the electoral behavior of the Coalition count for the country’s European future?” that was staged by IPN News Agency.
“The member parties of the government collation are now in a state of camouflaged information war. At official level, the parties and representatives of the parties do not admit this, but this conflict to which I refer is sufficiently evident in the media, on social networking sites, blogs and information websites,” said Valeriu Vasilica, director of IPN Agency.
The project’s permanent expert Igor Botan, director of the Association for Participatory Democracy ADEPT, does not pay much attention to the information war between parties. “If you refer to bloggers, there are bloggers who are used to leak information and they do it professionally, in a subtle way so as to explore the reactions of friends and other persons. There are also bloggers who poison the atmosphere. If you consider the number of visitors and readers... If comparing the parties with vehicles, what the bloggers do can be compared with exhaust fumes. This is an indicator that there are negative agents, pathogen agents. But we cannot imagine things without them. They make our life more joyful,” said the analyst.
However, Igor Botan said that if we refer to those who order such information services, their acts can have a double effect. “In a closed system, one action of the system will be followed by a counteraction. Those who poison the political atmosphere should expect the poison they throw in society to affect them too. After the elections, they will anyway need to sit at the negotiating table and to overcome the blockage they created,” explained the expert.
The leader of the Liberal Democratic Party Vlad Filat admitted that such a competition exists between the parties of the pro-European coalition. “The undeclared information war always existed. It is important not to exceed the limits and it depends on everyone’s understanding of the behavioral method and of the responsibility borne by every contender competing in the elections, which I emphasize are decisive,” he stated.
The politician noted that this situation will continue as the main goal of the parties is to obtain a good result. “I would like very much to have other expectations too, but evidently things will not change too much, given such factors as the experience, culture, responsibility, etc. I believe we should focus on party activities so as to achieve the best result possible,” he said.
Vlad Filat also said that the parties must have a view that will cover the period after the elections. “It’s intelligent to have a behavior that would allow having discussions and talks after the elections so as to form an alliance. Those who consider that the victory in this November’s elections is enough are wrong. The victory offers only the possibility of solving the problems,” he stated.
The leaders of the other two parties of the Pro-European Coalition – the Democratic Party of Moldova and the Liberal Reformist Party – were also invited to the debate “Why does the electoral behavior of the Coalition count for the country’s European future?”.
The debate of September 26 is the 33rd of the series of public debates “Development of political culture in public debates”. IPN Agency has conducted these debates the third year with the support of the Hanns Seidel Foundation and in cooperation with Radio Moldova.
