Igor Dodon, Maia Sandu and Renato Usatyi would gain the largest number of votes in the November 1 presidential elections, shows the July issue of the Electoral Barometer conducted by Date Inteligente SRL (iData) among 23 experts – politicians, analysts or political commentators associated to different parties. The answers to the same open question put to the respondents from among the general public brings the same three candidates at the forefront.
According to the study that was presented by iData executive director Mihai Bologan in a news conference at IPN, all the experts said that Igor Dodon and Maia Sandu are the favorite candidates, being followed by Renato Usatyi. “We admit that experts’ responses can be influenced by their political views, but the data collected before this issue show that the experts in general tend to be rather objective and their opinion is rather neutral,” stated Mihai Bologan.
The survey covered 1,214 respondents from 379 localities who were questioned by phone. According to them, if presidential elections were held next Sunday, Igor Dodon would gain 17.1% of the vote from the citizens, Maia Sandu – 14.1, while Renato Usatyi – 2.6%. Asked which politician they trust the most, 19.4% of the respondents answered Igor Dodon, 15.2% - Maia Sandu, while 4.2% - Renato Usatyi. 35.4% of those polled trust no one.
Over half of the experts consider that in eventual snap parliamentary elections, five parties could enter Parliament: the Party of Socialists, the Party of Action and Solidarity, the Shor Party, the Our Party and the Party “Dignity and Truth Platform”. The study among citizens shows that if parliamentary elections were held next Sunday, the PSRM would gain 24.4% of the vote, the PAS – 20.2%, while the Shor Party 5.6%, which is under the election threshold of 6%. 20.6% of the respondents do not know who to vote for.
All the experts, except one, are for Moldova’s entry into the European Union: 95.7%. Half of the experts are for Moldova’s union with Romania: 52.2%. 17.4% welcome the country’s rapprochement with Russia, while 78.3% believe Moldova’s statehood should be strengthened.
Subjects related to the COVID-19 pandemic were discussed only with experts. Asked for how long the state of public health emergency should be maintained, 26% of the experts said until July 31, as it was initially decided, 17% said until August 31 and most of them said the decision is contingent on the epidemiological developments and the number of infections. Some of the experts said this should not be extended.
As to the reopening of kindergartens, 22% of the experts said these institutions should be reopened immediately, 30% said at the start of August, while 39% said at the beginning of September.
Among experts, the data were collected by phone interview and self-competition questionnaires.
