After a long period, Liberal-Democrat leader Vlad Filat returns to the top spot among the most influential politicians in November. Vladimir Voronin, head of PCRM, has suffered the most dramatic decline. The ranking was compiled by the Institute of Political Analysis and Consultancy “Politicon”, IPN reports.
The commentators that rated the performance of politicians say that Vlad Filat took the top spot because he headed the party's electoral list and PLDM had an intense electoral campaign. Prime-minister Iurie Leanca was outranked by his party leader after holding the no.1 position for a year. This is explained by the fact that as head of the Cabinet, he didn't suspend himself from his position and was less visible in the electoral campaign. Analysts also say Leanca's image took a dent because of his involvement in the Romanian presidential election, where he supported losing candidate Victor Ponta.
The third position is occupied by Democrat leader Marian Lupu, who moved up three spots thanks to the Democrats' strong electoral campaign. He is followed by his party colleague, Vlad Plahotniuc, who moved up five places. A similar growth was seen in the case of another Democrat, Speaker Igor Corman, ranked 5th. Again, analysts think their rankings improved mainly thanks to the active and successful electoral campaign of PDM.
President Nicolae Timofti moved down one spot and was ranked 6th. Foreign Minister Natalia Gherman also dropped slightly and is now 7th. Mayor of Chisinau and first deputy leader of PL, Dorin Chirtoaca, traditionally holds a spot in the bottom part of the top 10, this time ranking 8th.
Liberal leader Mihai Ghimpu returned to the top 10 and is now 9th. Because of a dull electoral campaign, Communist head Vladimir Voronin dropped from 3rd to 10th, by far the most spectacular fall.
The ranking was done by 31 experts, who rated each of the 100 politicians presented to them between with scores between 1 and 10, according to the criteria concerning the politicians' real influence upon the major political decisions in the country, popularity, visibility in the media and political prospects.
