Parliamentary elections will take place in Moldova on November 30. Some of the political parties have already started, officially or not, electoral actions, while some haven't. IPN Agency set out to sketch the “portraits” of political parties as recorded by society's perception, before the official start of the electoral campaign. We consider this to be a useful exercise for Moldovan voters, who will gain additional and concentrated information that they may find useful on the day of elections, and also for the parties themselves, who will get some hints on how to improve their image. This portrait might also help to better understand what one or another Moldovan party wants to be and what it really is. To this goal, many experts have been asked to comment on the parties' chance to make it into the next Parliament, the way they fulfilled their previous electoral promises, the possible coalitions, topics, tactics and strategies they might employ to get the voters' attention. Political parties are presented in order of the number of seats they hold in the current Legislative and of the results obtained during the previous parliamentary elections in 2010.
---
The People’s Force Party was registered in 2013 and is headed by Nicolae Chirtoaca. Experts consider the party has a good image owing to its leader, but its short history of existence and the inaction before the elections will not help it pass the election threshold this autumn.
Politologist and electoral strategist Olga Nicolenco said the party’s image is good mainly owing to its leader Nicolae Chirtoaca. This new party needs political partners in order to enter Parliament.
Olga Nicolenco considers that the strong points of the party include its leader, the responsible team, representatives in districts and villages. Among the weak points are the fact that it is not very visible (except for its leader), is absent from the social networking sites and has a modest financial support. In the election campaign, the party can center on such themes as the fight against corruption, different social aspects, the military reform and the justice reform, the SMEs and the Transnistrian conflict. The expert recommends the party in the election campaign to use such strategies as the visiting of voters at home, the visiting of economic entities, the presence on social networking sites and the promotion of other members of the team through the media.
Politologist Denis Cenusa said the People’s Force Party is led by an opinion leader with a good rating, who is a former ambassador and who can push the party forward. But the politician does not have much time and the party does not seriously mobilize to prepare for the election campaign. The leader’s image can help the party if it steps up its activities, but now it is rather passive and there will be probably no parties that would want to form a bloc with it before the elections.
Vice director of the Institute of Legal and Political Research of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova Victor Juc said that the People’s Force Party was designed as a movement or a third force as it was considered that the government and the parliamentary opposition were eroding and a new power was needed, headed by Nicolae Chirtoaca, who has the image of a good political analyst.
The expert considers that the party started well, but got stuck because money and people who would sacrifice themselves and would make field trips on the weekend are needed. Most probably, the party will not gain many votes, even if the leader makes effort to pull the party after him. The Moldovans are conservative and seldom change their option in elections. In this autumn’s elections, we will not have a third force as too many parties aim now to become such a force.
---
As part of this campaign, IPN has already published a review of the experts' opinions on the Communists' Party, the Liberal-Democratic Party, the Democratic Party, the Liberal Party, the Liberal Reformists Party, the Renaissance Party, the Socialists' Party, the Democratic Action Party, the National Liberal Party, the Antimafia People's Movement and the People's Party, and the Green Ecologist Party. and the Party of Regions of Moldova, and the Party “Democratia Acasa” (Democracy at Home).
Mariana Galben, IPN
