“If he cares at least slightly about his own reputation and respects his opposition partners with whom he ventured into the search of an only, common candidate, then the PSRM should do an elementary thing – at least change the headline of the news of July 8, 2024 – “Alexandr Stoianoglo – PSRM’s candidate for the presidential election”, which highlights the lie disseminated by the party’s leader about the fact that Alexandr Stoianoglo is a common and apolitical, independent candidate...
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The righteous hate falsehood...
On July 8, 2024, the leader of the Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova (PSRM), Igor Dodon, claimed to be producing a sensational event, through an announcement of great political importance, which will positively mark the future fate of Moldovan democracy. The sensational announcement referred to the fact that Igor Dodon decided not to participate in the October 20 election. Respectively, ex-prosecutor general, Alexandr Stoianoglo, is the PSRM’s candidate for the presidential election and the given decision was adopted by the party’s deliberative bodies. The announcement caused a confusion, which came to light on the same day, when the PSRM leader was forced to deny that Alexandr Stoianoglo was the PSRM’s candidate, insisting that he would be an independent candidate, supported by the PSRM.
In fact, the goal of the PSRM was to take the opposition partners by surprise, putting them in front of a fait accompli, despite the fact that they negotiated, by mutual agreement, for the opposition to unite around a neutral candidate, belonging to it and who would have a widely recognized public authority both in the Republic of Moldova and abroad. Moreover, Igor Dodon also revealed the names of those whom he urged to support the PSRM’s initiative, showing political maturity: Vladimir Voronin, leader of the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova (PCRM); Renato Usatyi, leader of Our Party; Ion Chicu, leader of the Party for Development and Consolidation of Moldova (PDCM); Ion Ceban, leader of the National Alternative Movement (MAN); Irina Vlah, leader of the Moldova Platform; Vlad Filat, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova; Andrei Năstase, ex-leader of the Dignity and Truth Platform (PDA) Party etc. The surprise was huge as the crowning of Alexandr Stioanoglo as a common, apolitical candidate, supported by the majority of the population, who will win the presidential election, was to take place in three days, in the premises of the Library of Civilizations, of the leader of the Civic Congress, Marc Tkachuk.
In fact, the confusion caused by the PSRM leader reached its peak the very next day, when the common candidate was forced to declare that “some contacts... with mates from the opposition suggest that many of them are not yet ready for such an immediate discussion in a broad format. Many of them still need time to analyze the current situation.” And indeed, most of the leaders of the opposition parties, who were to prove their political maturity by supporting the candidacy of Alexandr Stoianoglo, had already announced their own candidacies for the position of head of state. That’s why two of them – Renato Usatyi and Andrei Năstase - categorically rejected the PSRM leader’s exhortation, while the others reacted with bewilderment.
Personality of Alexandr Stoianoglo vs. sins of Irina Vlah
The leader of the Moldova Platform, Irina Vlah, was not convinced by Igor Dodon’s appeal, at least until the end of July: “At this moment we have not yet made a decision... We can now talk about the past, because the current situation is not the same as in September or October 2023. Then we were discussing, we had a list. It was a good time for discussions. But, in February, particular politicians said that they would not find a compromise and there would not be a common candidate and decided to run. Therefore, what can we talk about? We have a clear position for the runoff vote.”
Irina Vlah has very serious reasons not to be lured by Igor Dodon’s proposals because these are simply not sincere. The fact is that a year ago, when her mandate of governor of Gagauzia ended, Irina Vlah declared her intention to return to national politics. At that time, she hinted that she would like to become the only candidate of the opposition for the position of head of state. Her claim was based on the fact that she had truly become a professional politician. Her hope was shattered by the leader of the PSRM, who brutally discouraged her from aspiring to become the only candidate of the opposition in the presidential election: “When there is a direct vote for a candidate, with all the esteem and respect for those from Gagauzia, I do not believe that the Moldovans will massively vote for a representative of Gagauzia in direct elections” (see min. 43.24 – 43.36). Secondly, Igor Dodon hinted that he regrets having saved Irina Vlah from prison, when the executive coordinator of the Republic of Moldova, Vlad Plahotniuc, wanted to arrest her (see min. 43.36-44.00).
It is worth noting that the statements of the PSRM leader, made on behalf of the Moldovans, who, allegedly, would never vote for any Gagauz ethnic in any high public office, are unspeakable. However, we must admit that in the meantime Igor Dodon has made some progress. Only a year later, he and the party he leads decided to promote Alexandr Stoianoglo to the position of head of state, although he is a Gagauz ethnic: “Hope, chance appeared... that things can be changed. Today we have given this hope to the people and it will be growing. Yes, they will try to invoke that he is a Gagauz ethnic, that Platon..., I don't know what. Leave this nonsense aside. He is a lawyer. First of all, he is independent, the only prosecutor general who has not been politically controlled by anyone... We are now in a situation where people will not look at the ethnicity. The people will look at the personality.”
Therefore, it must be understood that the difference between Irina Vlah and Alexandr Stoianoglo would be that the latter has personality, unlike the former, which is why the ethnic identity no longer matters. The problem is that for Irina Vlah this approach of Igor Dodon in favor of Alexandr Stoianoglo cannot be credible.
Alexandr Stoianoglo in the footsteps of Nicolae Timofti?
In his speech, after being presented by Igor Dodon as a candidate of the PSRM, Alexandr Stoianoglo said that he is not a politician and, as a supporter of the European integration of the Republic of Moldova, he can communicate with different politicians in the search of and finding of compromise solutions. This speech revived the epic election of the President of the Republic of Moldova in 2012. Then, with the support of the PSRM and Igor Dodon, jurist Nicolae Timofti was elected as head of state. Without the support of Igor Dodon and Zinaida Grechanyi, the election by Parliament of Nicolae Timofti would have been impossible, and the alternative was to hold snap parliamentary elections, which the PCRM would most likely have won. The latter, however, had been betrayed by Igor Dodon and, to justify the betrayal, a test of statehood had been invented, which was applied to Nicolae Timofti, qualifying him as a suitable candidate for the position of head of state.
Currently, the similarity between Alexandr Stoianaglo’s situation and that of Nicolae Timofti in 2012 is striking. The latter, like the former, was a highly qualified jurist – a former president of the Supreme Court of Justice. Nicolae Timofti also stressed that he was not a politician and was a supporter of the European integration. The similarity also extends to the fact that, in 2012, the PSRM broke with the PCRM in order to support Nicolae Timofte and currently, in 2024, the PSRM broke with the group of supporters eager to identify a common opposition candidate. The mentioned similarities should alarm Alexandr Stoianoglo as he can see that Igor Dodon does not change. In this regard, it is worth considering how the PSRM leader changed his attitude towards Nicolae Timofti three years after he had tested and promoted him to the position of head of state: “Our proposal is the following. Mr. Timofti, so that you do not go down in history with the nickname of “mute duck” and without will, at the end of your mandate, it is better to demonstrate character now, in these days and resign honorably.”
Unfortunately, not being a politician, a decent man, as Alexandr Stoianoglo undoubtedly is, has become, apparently, a victim of the political manipulations of the PSRM and its leader. If he were an experienced politician, Alexandr Stoianoglo would have come to the conclusion that a political party or its leader will never give up running for a high public office, if they are confident that they can win it. That’s why giving up in favor of another person, especially an inexperienced one, is a political trick to camouflage weaknesses and the fear of losing the election. The tricks, on the other hand, allow fishing in troubled waters. This is what happened in the case of supporting Nicolae Timofti’s candidacy. Igor Dodon and the PSRM needed a break in order not to enter the snap parliamentary elections, which would have put an end to the political survival of the PSRM. Taking advantage of the pause created for only two years, thanks to Zinaida Greceanii, Vladimir Putin was persuaded to bet in the Republic of Moldova on the support of the PSRM to the detriment of the PCRM. This happened in the 2014 parliamentary elections when, with the help of a photo with Putin, Igor Dodon and the PSRM managed to convert 1/2 of the voters of the PCRM and become one of the main parties in the Republic of Moldova.
The irony of fate is that currently, the favorite of Putinist Russia (favorite wife) is Ilan Shor and the Pobeda Bloc, which took over the money flows from Russia to maintain control over the Republic of Moldova. The problem is that the Pobeda Bloc is struggling to identify a strong candidate for the position of head of state, but it is not succeeding, for now. These are the circumstances that make Igor Dodon afraid of participating in the presidential election, which he understood he cannot win. That’s why he resorted to identifying a substitute, which is Alexandr Stoianoglo. Igor Dodon’s trick is to create the room for maneuver to blame the failure on the partners who did not show political maturity, when they were faced with a fait accompli.
Conclusions
Using Alexandr Stoianoglo’s lack of political experience, the PSRM has already caused moral damage to him. Many remembered that the Prosecutor General, Alexandr Stoianoglo, publicly expressed his conviction that Igor Dodon is a criminal, who received money from Vlad Plahotniuc for the illegal financing of the PSRM (see min. 1.38 – 2.16 or the following post), but could not prove this. This compromise provoked an assault on Alexandr Stoianoglo, who would have made a deal with his own conscience, accepting to be promoted by a person whose honesty he publicly challenged.
Likewise, the alleged relationship of Alexandr Stoianoglo with the fugitive Vyacheslav Platon, suspected of numerous financial crimes, was brought to the fore. Respectively, Stoianoglo was immediately labeled as the candidate of the oligarchs. This suspicion is fueled not only by Stoianoglo’s careless statements in relation to Vyacheslav Platon. Also suspicious is the exaggeratedly insistent support for the ex-prosecutor general of the former journalist, Natalia Morari, who plays Platon’s games and convinced Stoianoglo that he could win the presidential election by the first round (see min. 7.35 – 7.43). The fact is that Natalia Morari is an extremely dangerous adviser, who was also involved in the 2009 election, contributing to the degeneration of a peaceful protest into an extremely violent one, which resulted in the burning of the Parliament Budling and the Presidential Palace . Her involvement alongside the PSRM leader in convincing Stoianoglo should cause suspicion because she copiously feasted on Igor Dodon's tushonka, until she found a rich source of protein in Vyacheslav Platon’s millions.
Recommendation
If he cares at least slightly about his own reputation and respects his opposition partners with whom he ventured into the search of an only, common candidate, then the PSRM should do an elementary thing – at least change the headline of the news of July 8, 2024 – “ALEXANDR STOIANOGLO – PSRM’S CANDIDATE FOR THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION - which highlights the lie disseminated by the party’s leader about the fact that Alexandr Stoianoglo is a common and apolitical, independent candidate.
