The voters in the Republic of Moldova are easily influenced and lack uprightness when they go to vote. They do not collect information, have short electoral memory and forget that they were disappointed by the ruling parties, considers Doru Curosu, a member of the European Youth Forum.
Contacted by IPN, Doru Curosu said the people in Moldova vote mainly based on the geopolitical factor. The spoken language is another factor. Also, the Moldovans live with the own past, not with the future of an independent, powerful state.
The people vote the ‘lesser evil’ and this is dangerous. According to the young man, in Moldova there is no political culture. “We have parties that do not even know and do not promote their ideology. We do not have political integrity or political leaders who could mobilize society. Politics in Moldova is one of the dirtiest areas of activity only because of those who use the power as a means of enriching themselves, not as a means of developing the state,” said Doru Curosu.
The young man also thinks that the bag with grains and oil works miracles. He gave as example the last local elections when the protests were mounted by bribing the participants, who travelled long distances to support a person they didn’t know for a snack.
According to Doru Curosu, the grownups, especially the elder ones, have always been the most active voters in Moldova. This situation is maintained visibly, regardless of the efforts made by civil society to change things. The highest voter turnout among the young people was in 2009, but that generation is now disappointed in the existent parties and do not trust the election process.
As regards the people who remained in the country and those from the diaspora, it is hard to treat them alike. When they are at home they are somehow dependent on the system, especially the budget-funded ones, to whom the party tells how to vote. Those who are in the country are much more vulnerable, disappointed and resigned to the situation in the country. Therefore, most of the people do not live, but survive in Moldova. As to the diaspora, this includes younger voters with a comparative international political experience. Therefore, based on the own experience, those who are outside the county before the elections tend to find out more about the reality at home, in the hope that the situation will improve in the future, stated Doru Curosu.
Asked about the information sources used by the voters and their capacity to discern, the young man said the TV set and the gossips are the most important sources. The TV channels are irrelevant sources of electoral and political information as they are nontransparent and are politically affiliated. “The gossips are probably a more dangerous source than the TV channels, but have the same impact – brainwashing and manipulation. Our voters forget to analyze the electoral programs of parties and forget the political past of each team that aspires to come to power,” said the member of the European Youth Forum.
Doru Curosu sees a tendency that is to the detriment of the parties that are now in power before the October 30 presidential elections. According to him, there are parties that lost the voters’ confidence, while other parties keep their voters only under financial pressure. “I sincerely hope that the next elections will exclude most of the ruling parties, while the members of these parties will disappear from the political arena and will occupy the deserved place in front of the judges,” he stated. Doru Curosu is concerned that the next President could be as unsuitable as those of the last six years, who managed to only destroy the role of the presidential institution.
–––
The article forms part of the IPN series “Profile of the voter: who votes the President”.
