The image of the government and the opposition is both good and bad. In the period that remained until the ordinary parliamentary elections, the parties will try to show that they are competitive and promote a right cause, while the opponents are weak and promote corporate or personal interests. Such opinions were stated in the public debate “If parliamentary elections took place tomorrow … Image of the government and power perceived by Moldovan society as an index for the country’s political prospects” that was staged by IPN Agency on November 11, 2013.
At the beginning of the event, the Agency’s director Valeriu Vasilica, who moderated the debate, said the theme of the classical political image in the society’s perception is important because the current living standards and the future political prospects depend on the quality of the votes cast by the people in elections, while the vote, for its part, greatly depends on the politicians’ image perceived by the voters.
Referring to the last opinion poll carried out, the chairman of the Association of Sociologists and Demographers Victor Mocanu said that confidence in the political parties is now at the lowest level. The population is not satisfied with the way the country develops and considers the implemented reforms tough. The surveys show that the people want reforms that would bring about real changes that would be oriented to the people and world not serve group of personal interests.
Deputy Speaker Liliana Palihovici, of the Liberal Democratic Party, said the government wants to have the image of a promoter of democratization and modernization of the country and does a lot in this respect. It implements the necessary reforms, even if the people do not always like them. “The respondents of the polls say they want real reforms and changes that would affect them directly. The Government launched a series of very necessary projects and now should make effort to disseminate the information about the results of its activities,” she stated, adding that the opposition should not misinform as the people want to know not the names of those who do reform, but how quickly and efficiently they are done.
Ileana Palihovici also said that the opposition should be constructive, not destructive. “The politicians and elected officials should have a high level of culture. I would like the opposition to contribute to the democratization of society, not to causing chaos,” she stated
Communist MP Grigore Petrenco said the political image is built by the politicians by their deeds and policy. He said the debate’s theme is useless and avoided talking about the image of the parliamentary opposition as perceived by society. He referred to the government’s image, saying the current power is regarded as destructive and living with other realities than the existing ones. According to him, the rulers have a bad image and are considered thieves who steal the EU funds.
Managing co-chairman of the People’s Party Alexandru Oleinic said society should assess the political class by its deeds. “The government has both advantages and disadvantages. The advantages are the access to administrative and financial resources, the mass media while the disadvantages refer to responsibility. The parliamentary opposition adopted a good tacit as it contributes to worsening the government’s image,” he stated. According to Alexandru Oleinic, the Communist Party, which represents the opposition, can build a good image as it has access to the mass media and can state its opinions and promote its ideas and stances. When the Communists were in power, the opposition was unable to do this.
Director of the Association for Participatory Democracy ADEPT Igor Botan said the parties’ image counts now as the preparations for elections will start soon and in elections this image is important. According to the expert, the people usually support the powerful and competitive ones who fight for a right cause. In the period before the elections, the ruling parties and the opposition will make effort to show that they are powerful, while their opponents are weak and promote corporate and personal interests.
The public debate “If parliamentary elections took place tomorrow … Image of the government and power perceived by Moldovan society as an index for the country’s political prospects” is the 23rd of the series “Development of political culture by public debates” that are organized with the support of the German foundation “Hanns Seidel”.
