Civil society should attentively monitor the elections as they are the most important democratic exercise when the citizens exercise power, said Ion Manole, the executive director of Promo-Lex Association, which monitors the general local elections of November 5. He noted that the prosperity of a society depends on the political education and culture of voters and civil society should make effort to raise the awareness of citizens and not to allow abuses and hate speech on the part of politicians, IPN reports.

“Society should keep a close eye on what is going on in the electoral process. As the elections are a democratic process, they are an extremely important exercise of the citizens. The citizens need it to make the correct choice. When we have educated, conscious citizens, it is much easier to develop and ensure our security. The weaker is the political culture of citizens, the better is for those who are in power as the power corrupts, while those who come to power tend to become arrogant, to ignore people’s problems and not always take the citizen’s opinion into account. The greater is the pressure exerted by the citizens, the better is it. For a politician, it is harder to manipulate an informed citizen and an educated citizen,” Ion Manole stated in the program “Reflection Points” on Vocea Basarabiei channel.

Data of the Central Election Commission show that over 60,000 candidates were registered for the general local elections of November 5. Twenty-seven candidates will contend for the mayoralty of Chisinau. The director of Promo-Lex said the large number of election contenders is beneficial to the democratic processes in Moldova.

“It is good that we have more parties, more election contestants. The more the better. When going to the polls, the citizen has the ID in the hand and should realize that they hold power then. The weaker is the political culture of the voter, the more this wants the politicians to attack each other, to speak rudely and to make noise. Today, hate speech is punished due to the efforts made by civil society. We are attentively monitoring each hate speech for this to be penalized. If we look attentively at the wars in Ukraine and Israel, we see that these started due to hate speeches. Politicians throw the hate seed that sprouts in the masses, especially in prepared conditions supported by the media controlled by the state or by particular groupings,” said Ion Manole.

According to the Central Election Commission, 3,900 candidates will compete for the 898 posts of mayor, while over 56,000 persons will contends for the 11,058 posts of local councilors.