Prime Minister Iurie Leanca tops the rankings of the most influential 50 Moldovan politicians of 2013 compiled by the Institute for Political Analysis and Consultancy “Politicon”. He is followed by the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party (PLDM), ex-Premier Vlad Filat and the leader of the Communist Party (PCRM) Vladimir Voronin.
The fourth position is taken by President Nicolae Timofti. Mayor General of Chisinau Dorin Chirtoaca ranks fifth, followed by the first deputy chairman of the Democratic Party Vlad Plahotniuc.
The head of the Liberal-Democratic parliamentary group Valeriu Strelet comes seventh, while the leader of the Democratic Party Marian Lupu ranks eighth. He is followed by Deputy Prime Minister Natalia Gherman and Head of Parliament Igor Corman.
Deputy Speaker Liliana Palihovici made a significant jump to the 17th position, up 25 positions from last. Natalia Gherman moved up 24 spots, while Igor Corman – 19 spots.
In a news conference at IPN, “Politicon” director Anatol Taranu said the rankings are topped by the cream of the political class. 2013 was incontestably the political year of Iurie Leanca, who saw an apotheosis in his career and had an exemplary performance on the political arena of Moldova.
According to Taranu, the attempts to remove Vlad Filat from the top are unsuccessful. “Iurie Leanca and Vlad Filat are two authentic engines that will propel the train of the PLDM in the 2014 parliamentary elections,” he stated.
As to the Communist leader Vladimir Voronin, Anatol Taranu said that he ranks up even if he had the behavior of an old lamentable politician this year.
According to the experts of “Politicon”, the struggle in the parliamentary elections will be given between the PLDM and PCRM, which will try to return to power. There is a mistaken perception that the position of the PCRM is better than that of the PLDM. Their position on the political arena will be clear after the electoral events of 2014.
The politicians included in the rankings were assessed by experts in terms of their influence on the adoption of major decisions in the country, public popularity, visibility in the mass media and political prospects. The scored points were divided by the number of inclusions of the politician in the monthly list of 100 politicians appraised by the experts. This way there was determined the final score.
