Experts say election campaign for Chisinau mayor was superior to previous campaign

The election campaign for the mayor of Chisinau that closed on June 17 was better in quality through the use of different communication technologies. Some of the candidates excelled at the organization of an ‘ideal’ campaign, using innovatory elements for the specific features of the national elections, authors of the study “Ten Politicians of the June 2007 Elections” say. The study presented on Wednesday analyzes the electoral opponents and the programs of ten of the former candidates for Chisinau Mayor General. Also, it examines their degree of political communication and the election campaign outcomes. The authors ascertained that the electorate in the municipality of Chisinau becomes more and more skeptical and critical in attitude as well as selective in their choice. These features of the Chisinau voters make them more immune to the manipulatory campaigns typical of an election. In such a way, neither in 2003 nor in this year’s elections could the electorate focus on a “favorite candidate” that would win only because he was promoted and supported in a fair and balanced way. The way in which the Communist candidates were promoted was every time rather professional for the candidates to reach the second round, but never successful enough to make them win, the authors say. Another finding is that the public in the capital city understood what the advantages of electoral debates are. A candidate that avoids televised debates or that performs poorly during them cannot win in elections. The authors also ascertained that the Chisinau residents vote in compliance with the expectations they formulated before the start of the election campaign so that it is difficult to promote personages that appear in public only before the campaign. Another conclusion of the study is that the voting public in Chisinau is rather realistic and preferred the candidates that had a technocratic message that focused on the problems and solutions. Nineteen candidates ran for Chisinau mayor in the June 3 local elections. Dorin Chirtoaca was elected mayor in the second round of voting, while his Communist-backed opponent Veaceslav Iordan, considered the favorite of the polls, won less than 40% of the vote.