Chisinau Municipal Council 2003 – 2007 as seen by Chisinau residents. Analysis by Info-Prim Neo, Part I

We are again the witnesses of an electoral campaign preceding the June 3 general local elections. Considerations about the political conjuncture of the present campaign, offers of the candidates and forecasts will come after May 4, the deadline for submitting documents by the competitors for the 2007-2011 term-in-office. Till then, it would be appropriate to take a retrospective look over the work of the administration after 4 years of local governance. As a matter of fact, the legislation does not prescribe a sort of report by the local authorities in front of the voters and not a single party has voluntarily initiated such an account. This brings us to the first conclusion: the electoral candidates regard the elections themselves as a priority, rather than the act of governing. The situation will continue as long as it will be tolerated by voters. So much the more as the winners of the elections try to diminish the interest of the common citizens for the way the electoral promises are kept during the term-in-office. This observation mainly refers to the present administration of Chisinau, including the Chisinau Municipal Council (CMC). [2003-2007 CMC as a tool to settle old scores] [Politically], the activity of the CMC was full of permanent internal fights. The character of the confrontations was intransigent, politically “cruel”, and not only. Many were arrested and imprisoned for long terms, with either approval or indifference of the CMC. Key municipal officials were in many cases dismissed without a beforehand examination or motivation, with repeated violation of the law. There were fugitives, as well as corrupted or pressured turncoats. No penal proceedings initiated during this period were finished. The stake was not only the power or the municipal seats. Those who control Chisinau, control the country too. Many of the issues approached and discussed within the CMC were decided from this angle. CMC was given the role of a tool in these settlements of old scores, as well as the role to create democratic appearances during these political battles. The CMC accepted only the rule of the majority vote. If certain issues were illegal, the majority vote transformed them into legal decisions. At least for the sake of appearances, the representatives of the majority vote have never publicly displayed doubts, or moral regrets for these decisions. It seems there were few attempts to find compromises between the other political groups, and for sure there were no fulfilled compromises. The rule of the consensus was overlooked by the incumbent CMC members. In 4 years, none of the authors of wrong or illegal decisions were held responsible: either in front of the law, or before the community. The municipal budget has paid it all, with the money of the simple citizens, residents of Chisinau. For the first time in the history of the independent Moldova, the 2003-2007 CMC has politically subordinated the office of Mayor General as a Local executive authority. CMC, as well as its standing committees, for which the legislation stipulates only recommendation rights, took over many of the executive staff offices and of the municipal services through usurpation and arrogance. At the end of the term-in-office, the majority of persons who head the municipal services have the status of ad-interims and this is the real state of affairs in the municipality of Chisinau. However, both the CMC and the standing committees were dominated by another mechanism – the faction. In many cases the members of the standing committees voted against their own vote made within the committee. There were cases when the councillors voted against their own proposal, presented several minutes earlier at the central tribune of the CMC, because that was the decision of the faction. Yet, these situations were exceptions. Usually, the members of certain factions were coming to the meetings with “yeas” and “nays” marks next to each agenda item, so that they do not forget. Both the mechanism of the CMC and of the faction was directed from outside. The decision-making forces of the CMC were not in the CMC. When the situation was getting really tense, a break was requested to have a chat with someone from outside. In those moments, the CMC Room was becoming a theatre of absurd when everyone was talking about “The-One-Above-All”. All the aforementioned facts had no negative political charge, as long as the CMC was taking into consideration the choice of Chisinau residents made in 2003. Back then, the voters did not offer to anyone the privilege of the majority vote, electing the composition of the CMC, in a democratic and European way, representatives of different parties, with different opinions and methods. They elected the councillors giving them to understand that they should get along for four years, as they represent different options of the community. Things have worsened when two political forces allied against the rest. The political enemies have allied: leftists with rightists, the faction with the most of the votes, the faction with a communist message, with the faction with an obvious national message. The Party of the Communists and the People’s Christian Democrat Party found each other in the CMC, too. Things got even worse when the message send to the two factions from outside became the same, when the marks next to each agenda item became similar. The political analysts consider the phenomenon as “unification of extremes”. In politics, the unnatural phenomena have unnatural effects. Some of them are called “usurpation”, “destruction” etc. The liquidation of the municipal media with pluralist message by these two political actors could be an example of “destruction” aiming at “usurpation”, with a view to obviating the access of the voter-citizen, so no one can see the way the electoral promises were kept. One of the electoral sources outside the CMC explained simply this uncomplicated “philosophy”, which had different names in the course of the history. When asked whether the population of Chisinau will have the chance to decide the fate of the municipal radio and TV stations, the source said: “We do not ask anyone. We decide. We will answer to questions in the next electoral campaign”. [Socially], the CMC has showed that it is as impotent as imposing it wanted to be seen politically. [This side of Council’s activity will be examined in the second part of the Analysis by Info-Prim Neo]