The general public perception is that through the legislative changes that prohibit certain people associated with unconstitutional political parties from running for election, a party and its satellites were hit, invoking various illegalities. But, on the surface, it appears to be a political decision that would favor the ruling party, stated Lilia Zaharia, executive director of Transparency International Moldova, at an IPN debate on Monday.

“The policy of these sanctioned parties is somewhat pro-Kremlin, and my subjective opinion is that the suspected persons are people who want to destabilize the situation in the country, including through disinformation and fake news. But, when those legislative changes were made, the time was very limited, that’s why it hit those people who only have the status of suspect or accused, but are not definitively convicted, including in the case of the theft of the billion. These people, including those who were included in the list of prohibitions, will of course go to court and the Republic of Moldova will be the one to lose”, said Lilia Zaharia.

She does not believe that the new rules will end the phenomena of electoral corruption. “The former Shor Party and other related parties are inventive when it comes to bribing voters and electoral competitors. If the authorities have included certain persons in the ban list, their activity must be monitored, as well as that of other related persons. Actions to bribe voters happen at the local level”, believes Lilia Zaharia.

In her opinion, voters haven’t managed to learn about the latest changes to the Electoral Code, even if they were heavily publicized. “In our country where media culture is not very developed, I don’t think it is understood what the effects of the restrictions are and will be. Amid the blunders, only the representatives of the former party will gain, as speculations will be launched that they were denied the right to vote and voter hatred will be greater. Now media outlets must translate these restrictions from technical language into accessible language about what voters have to do in the November 5 election. This is all that can be done to inform the citizen”, said Lilia Zaharia.

The debate was the second installment of a series dedicated to the upcoming elections, run by IPN with the support of the Soros Moldova Foundation.