Civil society played an important role in elections

“Civil society have played an important role to call for civic activity and have monitored adequately different aspects of the election, this is good and commendable”, stated Kalman Mizsei, EU Special Representative for Moldova, in an interview for Info-Prim Neo. “I do not expect civil society to agitate in favour of any political force. (...) In a young and vulnerable democracy as Moldova’s is, civil society has a large dose of responsibility to perform various aspects of civic control over the elites. This remains an important challenge since nobody can expect that Moldova will tomorrow miraculously become a perfect democracy. The responsibility of the civil society actors therefore remains huge. The less they follow particular party interests the more they can fulfil their role as institution builders, change agents on behalf of plurality, democracy, human rights and dignity, competitive, strong market economy. Here the responsibility of their donors is also large since they are often foreign donors: they should also remain impartial and care about institutional development here. I trust this evolution will also continue next year.”, said Kalman Mizsei. In his opinion, Moldovan society has come out of elections less divided regarding its specific worries: identity, geopolitical orientation, political preferences, inter-ethnic relations, especially linguistic issues. “The rhetoric this time seems to be less belligerent, more respectful and cooperative. This finally has to stop. People talk about negotiations and it is good. Moldova is a tolerant country that handles in the everyday life those differences exceptionally well for such a relatively poor country. It is a great value and I hope the political class will gradually follow the people and absorb the spirit of tolerance more and more. This is a core European value. On the other hand there are still rhetorical practices that are about labelling political opponents with rude words, questioning each other’s elementary dignity. Also, on both sides historical mythologies are being created to justify intolerance. A lot of work is still ahead in this complex society to unite people between the linguistic and to a smaller extent ethnic dividing lines. But again, the tolerance and openness of society is a great fundament to build on”, EU Special Representative Kalman Mizsei stated for Info-Prim Neo.