Some of the candidates running in single-member constituency No. 51 the U.S. and Canada consider the incorrect justice and grand corruption are the main obstacles to Moldova’s development. The economic growth is insignificant and the salaries are thus low. Other candidates believe the current government during the last few years did more than it promised for the country and the people, took Moldova out of the economic and political crisis of 2016 and focused on the economic and social development. The opinions were stated in the public debate “Elections 2019: Please elect me MP on behalf of the Western Diaspora because...”, which was the 107th installment of the series “Developing political culture through public debates” staged by IPN Agency.
Radu Marian, the representative of Dumitru Alaiba, who runs on behalf of the electoral bloc ACUM, said the rule of law is absent in Moldova and the current government is illegitimate as it wasn’t voted by the people. The stopping of the macro-financial assistance is directly related to the rule of law problem. These are proofs of the collapse of the rule of law in the Republic of Moldova. The European Parliament itself adopted a resolution saying Moldova is a captured state. The incorrect justice and grand corruption are the main impediments that hamper Moldova’s development.
As to economic growth, Radu Marian said the economic growth of 4% of which the government boasts is embarrassing as Moldova has a GDP per capita similar to such a state as Sudan. To catch up with the developed states, Moldova should ensure a growth of at least 7% and this will happen when there are sustainable economic and political institutions that would meet people’s needs. When he enters Parliament, Dumitru Alaiba and the bloc ACUM will increase people’s incomes based on investments, will promote the attraction of investments and will stimulate businessmen to invest in employees and productivity so that Moldovans’ revenues grow.
Dumitru Jomir, the representative of independent candidate Valeriu Ghiletski, noted the state of affairs in Moldova can be better. Valeriu Ghiletski not only once said that he is not satisfied with the situation in the justice sector and with the way in which the banking fraud is investigated. “Mister Ghiletski understands very well these problems and will continue to make effort to improve the state of affairs,” he noted, adding the candidate showed political maturity, helped form a majority in Parliament and contributed to doing reforms.
Dumitru Jomir said that as a result of these reforms, the IMF in 2017 noted the economic growth of 4% in Moldova. Domestic consumption increased owing to the investments that became positive for the first time after the crisis of 2014. For the first time in the county’s history, the amounts collected as taxes were larger than the customs revenues. The official salary in foreign currency increased, while inflation declined. If he enters Parliament, Valeriu Ghiletski will continue the efficient communication with the diaspora and will deal with the wishes expressed by the citizens in the current election campaign.
Olga Coptu, the representative of Gennady Moroșanu, who runs for MP on behalf of the Democratic Party of Moldova, said since 2016 until present, the ruling PDM didn’t manage to do everything for this country and its people, but it was proven that the party did more than it promised. “Moldova witnessed results in the economic and social sectors. At the start of 2016, it was in a disastrous state and in a political crisis and saw the replacement of several governments. Now we can say that the Democratic Party achieved a lot. Reforms are done in Moldova if there is wish,” noted Olga Coptu, adding the PDM in the future Parliament will work with all those who will be ready to work for Moldova’s future, in the country’s interests.
The Party of Socialists’ candidate Gaik Vartanean noted the country is backsliding and the cosmetic reforms done by the PDM will not help. “In 2008, when Zinaida Grecheanyi was Prime Minister and Igor Dodon minister of economy, 720 million lei investments were attracted to the country. During ten years, the pro-Eurozone government could not attract more than 200-250 million and the attracted amounts were wasted, including for the Good Road project where 1.7 billion lei was mainly lost due to the poor quality of roads.
The candidate said the people should understand that the bloc ACUM, if it enters Parliament, would be divided into two or even three parties. The elections involve different political powers and there are two real powers – the current governed and the Socialist opposition. The current government was formed by corrupting MPs. If the people want the same to repeat, they can vote for any party except for the Party of Socialists because no other party than the PSRM can gain a majority of seats in Parliament,”stated Gaik Vartanea, adding the Socialists will keep the good relations with the EU, will unfreeze the macro-financial assistance, will fight corruption and will improve the relations with the Russian Federation.
On February 14, IPN staged a debate with candidates or representatives of candidates running in single-member constituency No. 49. This involved Vladimir Bolea, the representative of Dorin Frăsîneanu, who runs on behalf of the electoral bloc ACUM Platform PAS and DA, independent candidate Dumitru Pogorea, Nicolae Pascaru, who represented the Party of Socialists’ candidate Gheorghii Para, and Valery Klimenko, who runs on behalf of the Shor Party.
The debate held on February 18 featured candidates or representatives of candidates registered in constituency No. 50, namely the PDM’s candidate Olga Coptu, the representative of Maia Sandu who represents the electoral bloc ACUM Natalia Gavrilița, the representative of the National Liberal party’s candidate Gheorghe Furdui, Vitalia Pavlichenko, and independent Oleg Brega.
Earlier, IPN Agency held electoral debates with the participation of representatives of election contestants running in the national constituency.
For February 20, IPN scheduled debates with sociology and political sciences experts who will depict possible post-electoral scenarios starting at 2pm.
The series of debates ”Elections 2019: Please elect me MP on behalf of the Western diaspora because...”, forms part of the series of public debates held by IPN News Agency as part of the project “Developing political culture through public debates” that is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation of Germany.
