The extraparliamentary parties can mobilize its members to demand that the election threshold be reduced so that they also have chances of entering Parliament or to demand airtime on the public TV channel where to state their opinions about the situation in the country, Igor Botan, executive director of the Association for Participatory Democracy (ADEPT), said in the public debate “How appropriate the behavior of the real and potential participants in the negotiations on the formation of a government coalition is in the current situation in Moldova: extra-parliamentary views”, organized by IPN in partnership with Radio Moldova.
Igor Botan, who is the permanent expert of the IPN project, stated that the parties serve as vehicles between civil society and the political class. They must have teams, programs and put these resources into action in times of crisis. “It’s true that in periods of cries there are people who can become such vehicles. If we say that four of the five parliamentary parties have an inappropriate behavior, we should see what the extraparliamentary parties can do to change the situation in the country,” he said.
The expert made a proposal to the extraparliamentary parties. “We have about 40 extraparliamentary parties that have together about 160,000 members. In their place, I would sign a manifest addressed to Parliament to demand that the election threshold should be decreased. But the moment can be now inopportune as Voronin (PCRM), Ghimpu (PL) and Filat (PLDM) also want this so as to be able to enter again Parliament. These chances are minimal for them now and they expect someone else to ‘press’ them into reducing the election threshold,” stated Igor Botan.
As to the wish of the representatives of the extraparliamentary parties to be offered airtime on the public TV channel to state their views, the expert said the mass media is a business sector, but the public broadcaster can be made to serve people’s interests. “At least 160,000 people can sign a petition and I think the director of Moldova 1 cannot refuse. A criterion can be to allow access to televised debates based on parties’ activism. This criterion would motivate the parties to be active and to stage different events. I think something can be done, only commitment is needed,” said Igor Botan.
The public debate “How appropriate the behavior of the real and potential participants in the negotiations on the formation of a government coalition is in the current situation in Moldova: extra-parliamentary views” is the 45th installment of the series of debates “Developing political culture by public debates” that are supported by the German foundation “Hanns Seidel”.
