The year 2016 is described as the year of stability and the year when the people realized the power of protests and also the year when the people were taken by surprise by a series of political events. The political year 2016 was described by participants in the public debate entitled “Republic of Moldova at a crossroads of political years”, which was organized by IPN News Agency and Radio Moldova.

Political analyst Igor Botan, IPN project’s standing expert, said politics is administration of public affairs. The events usually have one meaning, while the phenomena are replicated, reproduced, etc. The impact of political events and phenomena is related to the influence of events and phenomena on the public life and politics. In 2016 Moldova witnessed political events, processes or phenomena, which had a major impact. Thus, 2016 began with a crisis and the country didn’t have a government. This was followed by political phenomena that took society by surprise.  But, in a democratic country, the government must be predictable.

“We were taken by surprise when the Government was invested and when the prosecutor general was recently sworn in as well as when the decision was taken to switch over from the indirect election of the Head of State to his direct election. The government always wanted to take us by surprise because it knew that society is restless, the people are revolted and you know the causes for the revolt – the theft of the US$1billion and its impact,” stated Igor Botan.

Ion Ceban, head of the Socialist group on the Chisinau Municipal Council, said the political processes that marked this year culminated with the investing of the Flip Government, by the committed illegalities. This Government was invested with the consent of representatives of international organizations. Early parliamentary elections should have been held in Moldova at the beginning of this year. The fact that the street protests continued and ended with a hazardous decision – the Constitutional Court’s judgment concerning the direct election of the President - also marked 2016. The presidential elections and the election of Igor Dodon as President were also important events of this year.

Anatolie Zagorodnyi, MP of the Social-Democratic Platform, noted that political stability was established in Moldova this year following the investing of the Government led by Pavel Filip. “Even if it has been criticized, the parliamentary alliance ensured stability for doing all the reforms. Success was witnessed only owing to the political stability,” he stated.

According to the MP, the decision concerning the direct election of the President and the appointment of the prosecutor general in accordance with the new legal provisions were also important events, as was the adoption of a package of laws on integrity that refer to the declaration of property and integrity of functionaries.

Andrei Spanu, deputy chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova, said he considers the presidential elections and the formation of the Government are the main events of this year. “To my mind, we should refer especially to the moments when the government attacked directly the people. The first major event was the dismissal of the mayor of Taraclia, which actually showed the government’s attitude to the local public administration and which does not mean only dismissal of a mayor, but also pressure to which all the public functionaries, district and local councilors and mayors are subject for defecting from one party to another. This phenomenon meant a lot this year,” he stated, noting the hampering of the right to vote of the young people and the diaspora in the presidential elections and exclusion of singers Pasha Parfeni and Catalin Josan from a large-scale concert are also major events of this year.

Liberal MP Stefan Vlas said 2016 was full of political events. The formation of a parliamentary alliance was very important as this ensured stability in the country.  If early parliamentary elections were held in spring, the country would have witnessed chaos. A deeper crisis would have been witnessed until a government had been installed. The signing of an agreement with the IMF is another important event. This will enable Moldova to step firmly and continue to have stability and attract investments at least next year.

Igor Grosu, secretary general of the Party “Action and Solidarity” (PAS), considers 2016 was marked by protests, at least in the first half, and the society’s attitude to the government and governance – at night, in secret – was thus felt. The creation of the two political offers – PAS and the Party “Platform Dignity and Truth” - was a response to the protests and a reaction to this state of spirit. 2016 was hard for the PAS because the party was founded this year and had to take part in its first electoral exercise. The year was also marked by elections and the election campaign, which was full of dirt.

The public debate “Republic of Moldova at a crossroads of political years” was the 67th installment of the series of debates “Developing political culture by public debates” that are staged by IPN with the assistance of Germany’s Hanns Seidel Foundation.