On June 14, the citizens of Moldova will vote the new local administration. IPN News Agency set the goal to determine how the local public authorities coped during the current term that is coming to an end. Experts, opinion leaders and representatives of civil society from different settlements will assess the activity of the local authorities of the country’s districts and municipalities. IPN series: Edinet district.
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Edinet district has 32 mayor’s offices for its 46 settlements. The total population of the district is over 84,000.
The head of the Edinet-based public association “People for People” Domnica Petrovich, who worked when there were counties as well, said the current format of territorial-administrative division is not very efficient owing to bureaucracy. When the people have a problem, they must repeatedly come to the local administration and they ultimately give up. When there were counties, the system was more efficient. There were four sectors with a fixed network in northern Moldova. The regions were permanently in contact with the sectors. Now there is a higher number of public authorities that need to be supported financially and this is a problem in the current situation.
Another problem is the lack of specialists in mayor’s offices and the unsatisfactory professional training of those who hold key posts. As regards the performance of the local public authorities during the last four years, Domnica Petrovich said Edinet is the only district where the problems were solved more based on party interests as the party members were concerned more about the interests of their parties, not about the people’s interests.
As to the steps that should be taken to improve the situation, the head of the association “People for People” said the counties should be restored and the local public administration should include competent and responsible persons with integrity, who want to do something not only because the parties named them to the post. The communication abilities should be developed as the people in a democratic society must not be afraid to tell what they think and must communicate and state their opinions in public. The election outcome proves that there are no such initiatives. There are settlements were projects were implemented with the contribution of the state or the mayor’s office, but the elections were won by parties that didn’t contribute much. That’s why more communication is needed with the people. A solution is for the mayors to quarterly present a report to the community to say what was done and what wasn’t done and why.
She added that the stake in the local elections will be the same. The politicians pursue the same goals. But the people are dissatisfied as the representatives of parties come before them and make promises and after the elections forget about them. They say that the central authorities do not pay enough attention to the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia, but the northern districts are also neglected. Attention is devoted mainly to the suburban settlements of Chisinau. If discussions are held with the people, there will be greater transparency.
Alina Marin, IPN
