Dodon's generosity and Chirtoaca's coherence at economic level

[Info-Prim Neo analysis of the series “Platforms of Candidates for the Mayoralty of Chisinau under Civil Society Scrutiny”] The platforms for the next four years of the candidates for mayor of Chisinau, Igor Dodon and Dorin Chirtoaca, contain many economic proposals that attract attention, but arouse skepticism about their successful implementation. It is evident that Igor Dodon's program is large and contains general points and a global view on things. This points to his experience of minister. Dorin Chirtoaca's program is much more laconic and reveals his experience of administrator of the city. A proposal in Igor Dodon's platform that attracts attention is “to reanimate the Consultative Economic Council under the mayor general of Chisinau.” This is a good measure as the public authorities, either central or local, must permanently interact with the businesses, civil society and academic circles. The dialogue must be regarded as a component part of the decision-making process. As regards the promises to launch economic programs, like “Chisinau – Profitable and Safe Investment Destination” that is designed to support measures to attract significant investments, or “Small Business – Main Source of New Workplaces”, they can be fulfilled theoretically, but it is not known how functional they will be. The launch does not depend only on the efforts of the City Hall, but also on the economic environment and the economic situation. Moreover, the launch of a program does not necessarily mean that it will be successful. The economic platform of Igor Dodon implies significant financial resources. For example, considerable investment is need to implement the program “Development of the Agri-industrial Potential of Chisinau Municipality” that is aimed at revitalizing the agricultural and animal-breeding sectors in the suburban settlements of the municipality. Igor Dodon's program contains certain points that should have been excluded, like the maintaining of the zero tax on companies' incomes until at least 2015. Such a decision can be taken only by Parliament. In 2012, the Tax Code will be amended and taxes on the revenues of legal entities will be included. They are considering the possibility of instituting a common tax of 12%. Only the legislative body will decide if the Municipal Council can impose income taxes on legal entities. The program includes aspects that do not refer to the City Hall's work, like “improvement of wholesale and retail trade in the municipality.” The main goal of such a move is to provide commercial services of a high quality for the residents of the municipality, including by combating illegal price rises. Another point is “increasing the collections into the municipal budget, including by reducing tax evasion and the underground economy.” Such measures are not within the competence of the Chisinau administration. The local authorities have neither instruments nor institutions to directly assume these commitments. The municipal administration cooperates with corruption combating institutions and the Tax Inspectorate, but cannot intervene directly to solve this problem. It can provide information and consultancy. Igor Dodon's platform is 'generous' and it is not clear where money will be taken from to implement it. The platform of Dorin Chirtoaca is aimed mainly at developing the infrastructure of Chisinau and describes the measures that the City Hall can implement successfully. The local councils deal primarily with infrastructure building, rather than combating of the underground economy. For example, the 'reconstruction of the transportation route Ismail – Calea Mosilor, Mircea cel Batran – Milescu Spataru – Bucovinei, Calea Iesilor – Stefan cel Mare – Cantemir” is within the competence of the local public administration. The City Hall can also successfully clean the riverbed of the Byk and transform the adjoining area into a recreational area. “To draft and implement a project to protect and conserve the architectural monuments in the historical center of Chisinau” is another objective that can be achieved by the municipal administration. These measures are definite and can be implemented during four years. If we compare the platform points referring to the infrastructure, Igor Dodon has a more general approach: “Renovating the municipal road network according to modern quality standards”, “Gradual switching from infilling to full long-term repair of roads”, “Unconditional provision of heat carrier and water for kindergartens, schools and other social institutions of the city”, “Building a waste-processing plant and solving the issue of city sanitation”. Meanwhile, Dorin Chirtoaca’s engagements are more concrete. Both platforms mention the modernization of municipal enterprises, but this restructuring means some dramatic reforms, which could lead to the liquidation of some enterprises or to job cuts. Moreover, tariffs could increase. In some cases, the programs of the two candidates’ coincide. For example, Igor Dodon wants to “support the construction of attics”, while Dorin Chirtoaca intends to “continue the building of attics”. Another example is the “Arrangement of Valea Morilor Park”, or the “City development according to the General Urban Plan for strategic development until 2025” in Chirtoaca’s platform and “Implementing the stipulations of the General Urban Plan of city development” in Dodon’s. It’s right to say both candidates know the problems of Chisinau and if both platforms are implemented, the life of city’s inhabitants will only improve. [Alexandru Fala, IDIS Viitorul expert, for Info-Prim Neo] An important criterion of evaluating the quality of programs is the clear priority of goals. A four-year governing plan must have some basic goals in a descending order, depending on their importance. It’s desirable that electoral platforms are not containers filled with promises in all the domains, but short and relevant reports on 3-4 priorities. From this point of view, Dorin Chirtoaca’s program is clearer and more coherent than Igor Dodon’s, as it has only five goals, explained concisely. The PCRM candidate’s program is a digressing account of more important issues, which together seem like a pile of impossible promises. When reading all that stuff, I just want to ask Dodon: OK, OK, but what are you exactly going to do? Dorin Chirtoaca’s number one priority is “better and cleaner roads”. “Although it sounds good and contains some relevant aspects, it’s unsure whether Chirtoaca will be able to assure a satisfactory repair of roads for consumers. We remember that in 2007, Chirtoaca spoke a lot about “multilevel parking”. How many of them were built? None, I think. That’s why I find it an uninspired decision of the mayor to choose as priority a domain in which his achievements are below par. However, criticism to Dorin Chirtoaca can be multiplied by ten to Igor Dodon. The most risky promises are those with concrete figures, especially related to creating new jobs. A mayor and the local council have limited resources to create new jobs. It’s hard to estimate how many jobs have been created by previous mayors. So, Dodon and his councilors’ promise of 50.000 new jobs is mere populism. It’s a bad habit to fill electoral platforms with figures about neither voters, nor politicians care. Electoral programs have become a kind of rite of befuddling voters. The best approach is not to read them at all. However, it leads to a dilemma. If we don’t care about the programs, then we don’t have to care about the candidates. If so, then we don’t vote. But we are clever. We don’t read the programs, but simply vote. [Corneliu Ciurea, IDIS Viitorul expert, for Info-Prim Neo]