Of the series of IPN interviews with all the candidates for mayor general of Chisinau municipality: Alexandr Roshko, candidate of the Political Party “Our Home – Moldova”.  


– What made you run for the mayoralty of Chisinau municipality?

– I was first of all influenced by the fact that the power in our country was usurped by an organized criminal group headed by Plahotniuc, which is called the Democratic Party. This made me be more active in politics, in opposition to the current regime. For this active civic and political position, for the protests mounted against the oligarch, we were persecuted, called extremists and presented as criminals in the media outlets affiliated to the power. For this activism and harsh criticism of the system, I spent six months in jail and we continue to be limited in our civil rights. For example, alongside other colleagues of the so-called “Petrenko group”, we still do not have the right to take part in protests. At the same time, my party mates who fielded me to represent “Our Home – Moldova” in the upcoming elections convinced me to make this choice. The elections for us are an instrument for delivering our message to the people. We consider we should use any rostrum to inform the citizens about the real causes for the disaster and degradation witnessed in the capital city and the whole country.

– Why do you think you should be voted in the May 20 elections?

– We are absolutely sure that the capital city should be managed by non-discredited persons, who were involved in no dubious schemes of corruption, which is people from outside the system, who do not play by the rules of Plahotniuc. I think that I and my team meet these conditions. We plead for dismantling the criminal system and this thing is possible. With small steps, we anyway go towards removing Plahotniuc&Co from power. Each drop that makes the protesters’ glass fuller can be the last and the decisive one.

– Which are the most pressing three problems in Chisinau and how quickly can they be solved?

– I would name four most serious problems: our Chisinau is not free, is not social, is not green and is not at all modern! To change the situation substantially, we need time and need to remove the criminal government and should do enormous work on ourselves.

- What solutions do you suggest to them?

– I think it won’t be right to enumerate all the points from our electoral program as these are many. For each chapter of the program, the main tasks are the following:

To have a social Chisinau:

- We will not allow closing education and medical institutions in Chisinau and privatizing the assets of these institutions;
- We will oblige the building companies to transfer 10% of the new housing stock to the municipality for providing social dwellings;
- We will institute free public transport in the capital city;
- We will introduce a new local tax on luxury goods and real estate;
- We will implement a system of monthly allowances provided from the municipal budget to persons with disabilities and pensioners who live under the poverty line.

To have a green Chisinau, we propose:

- Stopping the felling of trees in parks for erecting constructions there;
- Gradually withdrawing route minibuses and introducing electric public transport;
- Introducing an additional ecological tax for enterprises that pollute the environment;
- Introducing the obligation to separate waste for all the residents and business entities of the capital city;
- Extensively repairing the wastewater treatment stations in the city;
- Limiting the access of large trucks through the city and of units of transport to the historical center of Chisinau;
- Laying out of a culture and recreation park instead of the former National Stadium;
- Stopping of the practice of killing animals without a master, allocating additional financial resources for sterilizing stray dogs and maintaining shelters for stray animals.

To have a free Chisinau, we plead for:

- Instituting a civil control system at all the decision-making stages in the municipality.
- Implementing electronic documents, ensuring transparency and the people’s access to any decision, document, draft decision in an online regime;
- Diminishing the bureaucratic apparatus of the City Hall by 50% during a year;
- Permanent monitoring by the municipality of the observance of the civil rights and freedoms in medical and education institutions, at enterprises, in jails;
- Freely using municipal property for education and cultural events, children’s activities and other civil initiatives of public interest.

Ro have a modern Chisinau, we need:

- To think up the development plan of Chisinau with the involvement of foreign specialists in urban development;
- To diminish the territory of the municipality by leaving only urban localities in its composition;
- To demolish illegal constructions by covering the costs with municipal funds;
- To preserve the historical center, to encourage local investors to restore it;
- To create urban public areas for citizens to showcase their talents, to amuse themselves and to play sports;
- To institute free Wi-Fi all over Chisinau.

– How will the pay parking spaces project end, in your opinion?

– We can find an answer to this question in the experience of other large cities and capital cities. We need underground and multistory car parks for money. The sidewalks should be intended for pedestrians, not for vehicles. They should not be used to set up parking places there. This is wrong! The car traffic in the central center of Chisinau should be an exception from the rule, not an ordinary practice as now.

– What solutions do you have for the waste disposal problem in the city?

– We should invent nothing new and should only learn from the experience of other large, developed cities. The solution is to make sure that the waste is separated in each family, block, institution. Not the storing of waste, but the separate processing of this should be the main task.

– What is the stake of the upcoming elections?

– Plahotniuc is trying to test the new electoral system in Chisinau, Balti and several other localities. For the purpose, he fields so-called independent candidates, such as Silvia Radu and tests the electoral potential of the so-called Socialists, who now represent the pocket opposition of the oligarch and who have nothing to do with the real values of the left.

– Is the City Hall a trampoline for obtaining higher posts? Do you see yourself in big politics?

– In our country, we cannot speak about real politics as long as the state is held hostage by a mafiotic group led by an oligarch who considers himself a medieval sultan.

– Will you run in the local elections of 2019 too?

– I do not run independently. I’m the candidate of the party of which I form part. The decision is taken by the parry. We will live and see.


Alexandr Roshko will be under No. 3 on the ballot.

Earlier, IPN published interviews with Silvia Radu, independent candidate, Maxim Braila, candidate of the People’s Party, Ion Ceban, candidate of the Party of Socialists.