“The polling companies in the Republic of Moldova should be grateful to the leader of the PLDM for the promotion of their activities that can serve as foundation for political initiatives with a major impact for society. One more thing is needed – for the interpretations to be correct and no way diversionist...”
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Morality as an indicator of government’s legitimacy
The campaign with the slogan: Stop PAS! Start Freedom and Democracy!, which was initiated on August 1, 2023 by the ex-Premier and the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova (PLDM), Vlad Filat, was designed as a kind of crusade against the ruling party – the Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS). A proof of this is the assertion: Todays all the parties are in opposition to the PAS. The PAS is alone. The deriving conclusion is evident – the PAS should and can be removed from power.
It’s true that the PAS government is weak and is marked by multiple vices. The problem resides in the finding of a substitute for the PAS, which would be better than this. Probably, the leader of the PLDM wants to suggest that his party is suitable for a substitute. The arguments invoked to substantiate this thesis matter. The most recent argument of the many arguments that were already invoked refers to the interpretation of the results of opinion polls: “63% of the inhabitants believe the direction followed by the Republic of Moldova is incorrect. This is what the results of particular polls show”.
The argument is solid, especially because it is substantiated from sociological viewpoint, which is from scientific viewpoint. Indeed, the polls carried out over the past half a year by different companies confirm that the leader of the PLDM is right. According to researches, the following percentages of people consider that things go wrong: IMAS (May 2023) – 60% (see page 5); BOP (CBS-Research August 2023) – 57.8% (see page); iData (September 2023) – 48.1%; IMAS (September 2023) – 58% (see page 20). Respectively, the conclusion reached by the leader of the PLDM is appropriate: “From the perspective of the law, the power of the PAS is still legitimate. But from the perspective of morality, the power of the PAS is no longer legitimate. The PAS is a morally illegitimate government.” This is a merciless verdict, but it is honest and is substantiated scientifically.
Beam in one’s own eye...
They say the past projects and prefigures the future. That’s why, in light of the cruel verdict of the leader of the PLDM for the PAS, it would be right to wonder: which of the governments that existed in the Republic of Moldova led the country to the correct direction? The answer to this question could help us identify or at least predict an eventual substitute for the PAS government. We can even discover that the pretension of the PLDM leader is really substantiated. In this approach, we can be helped by the Public Opinion Barometer (POB), which has measured the perceptions of citizens since February 1998 until present.
Unexpectedly, we discover that the measurements within the POB (see page 5) covers the periods of activity of different governments, including those of which Vlad Filat formed part. For correctness, we will examine only the perceptions about the wrong path followed by the country, since the period of the teams that had been in power for approximately a year plus or minus 2-3 months:
- The Alliance for Democracy and Reforms (ADR) invested the government led by Ion Sturza, of which Vlad Filat formed part (1999). The measurements of that period show the highest rate of responses about the wrong direction – over 80%;
- The Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova (PCRM) invested the governments led by Vasile Tarlev and Zinaida Grechanyi (2001-2009). The measurements of November 2001 – July 2009 show an average of negative responses of 53.7%
- The Alliance for European Integration (AEI) invested the government led by Vlad Filat for two times (2009-2013). The measurements of that period point to a negative perception of 71.1%, while under the government of Iurie Leancă – of 72.2% ;
- The majority formed by the Executive Coordinator (EC) of the Republic of Moldova, Vlad Plahotniuc, invested the government led by Pavel Filip (2016-2019), which worked with a negative average of 75.6%;
- The Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova (PSRM) together with the Democratic Party of Moldova (PDM) invested the government led by Ion Chicu (2019-2020), which worked with a negative average of 74%;
- The PAS invested the governments led by Natalia Gavriliță and Dorin Recean (August 2021- present), the latter having a negative average of 61.9%.
So, according to the scientific approach of the PLDM leader, the order of the legitimacy of the governments invested over the past 25 years is as follows: 1) PCRM – 53.7%; 2) PAS – 61.9%; 3) AEI – 71.5%; 4) EC – 75.6%; 5) ADR – 80%.
The biggest surprise is to discover that the most legitimate government was that of the PCRM, while the Sturza government that included Vlad Filat as Minister of State was the most illegitimate one. It is even sadder to discover that according to the approaches of the leader of the PLDM, the Sturza government was also the most immoral one as this didn’t have the courage to resign and its members didn’t event experience remorse and none of them accepted blame. That’s why we should conclude that Parliament acted correctly when it dismissed the Sturza government on November 9, 1999.
In fact, given the approaches of the leader of the PLDM, we can ascertain that practically all the governments of the Republic of Moldova, starting with 1998, have been illegitimate. The governments of the ADR and AIE, of which Vlad Filat formed part or he managed them, were especially illegitimate, with the highest negative average of 76%. An unpleasant situation for the leader of the PLDM appears here. The point is the party led by him on 30.01.2008 launched the campaign “Moldova without Voronin, Moldova without Communisis in power!”. That campaign had a hard to be underestimated impact on the organization and motivation of the young people to protest, on April 7, 2009, against the repeated absolute victory scored by the PCRM in the parliamentary elections of April 5.
Respectively, owing to the scientific approach proposed by Vlad Filat, we reach the conclusion that the most legitimate government the Republic of Moldova ever had was unjustly ousted. Following the proposed logic, we should wonder if the campaign “Moldova without Voronin, Moldova without Communisis!” was a diversion against the people who were stripped of the best government? That’s why it is legitimate to wonder if the campaign Stop PAS! Start Freedom and Democracy!, which was initiated on August 1, 2023 and is aimed against the party that, sociologically speaking, takes the second spot in the legitimacy rankings, immediately after the PCRM., is also not a diversion?
About how morality was imbedded in Moldovan politics
Despite the aforementioned, we should yet admit that the leader of the PLDM had a hard to be underestimated contribution to the political development of the Republic of Moldova. His activities and actions helped to replace morality in Moldovan politics. It happened so that the Filat Government, as the Sturza Government, of which he formed part, was dismissed by Parliament. It happened on March 5, 2013, when the legislative body adopted a no-confidence motion, saying that “... the latest events (acts of corruption, criminal cases over abuse of power, content of telephone conversations with Government officials, etc.) clearly and evidently showed to the whole society that the current [Filat] Government turned corrupt, captive, blackmailable, which acts against the country’s interests”. This way, the assertions about the work of the PLDM leader, invoked in the Green book of corruption, have been somehow legitimate.
After his dismissal, the leader of the PLDM claimed the post of Premier back. But the Constitutional Court (CC) on April 22, 2013 passed a decision by which it opposed this attempt, quoting the text of the Council of Europe Criminal Law Convention on Corruption: “Corruption represents a threat to democracy, the preeminence of law and human rights, underestimates the principles of proper management, equity and social justice, distorts competition, hampers the economic development and endangers the stability of democratic institutions and the moral basis of society”.
This serves as a reason that, owing to the activities and approaches of the leader of the PLDM, morality was imbedded in political life in the Republic of Moldova to protect the basis of society. We feel the beneficial effects of these approaches at a distance of ten years of the adoption of the given CC decision through the invoking by the PLDM of the illegitimacy of the PAS due to morality reasons. Nothing in this world happens without having consequences!
Conclusions
The interpretation of results of opinion polls by politicians has unexpected effects. No one during the past quarter of century could suggest a sociologically, scientifically grounded formula for estimating the legitimacy level of a government or another. Only ex-Premier Vlad Filat, the leader of the PLDM, managed to do this.
The polling companies in the Republic of Moldova should be grateful to the leader of the PLDM for the promotion of their activities that can serve as foundation for political initiatives with a major impact for society. One more thing is needed – for the interpretations to be correct and no way diversionist.