The local elected officials have always been the promoters of Europeanization as they felt the direct impact of the projects that improved life in their communities, said experts invited to the IPN’s public debate “Local elections in the context of European course”.
Viorel Furdui, executive director of the Congress of Local Authorities of Moldova, said the result of the general local elections of November 5 clearly showed that the European integration is wanted at the local level and effort is made in this regard.
“The history of the Republic of Moldova for the past 30 years shows that the Europeanization at the local level actually occurred much earlier, namely at the level of the local public administration. If we analyze the results of all the local elections that were held in time in the Republic of Moldova, we will see that 70%-80% of the mayors had been among the main promoters of Europeanization and this course towards the European Union, towards the European space of welfare and modernization. Even if many of them contended on lists of parties that formally declared something else, in reality things were arranged in a different way,” stated Viorel Furdui.
Mayor of Sadaclia village of Basarabeasca district Ion Galeru, who polled over 80% of the vote at the November 5 election, said the citizens’ voting intention was influenced by the way in which he managed the public affairs doting his first term in office and by the multitude of European projects that he managed to implement in the locality.
“Everyone saw the projects that we won and implemented. I think each person gave a vote of confidence to support us further to implement European projects. I, for example, obtained about 80% of the ballot. I sincerely thank all the people from our locality – Sadaclia village of Basarabeasca district. I didn’t think I will obtain such a high percentage. This means we should work further, together with the local councilors who obtained a vote of confidence,” stated Ion Galeru.
Expert of the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives “Viitorul” Viorel Chivriga said the citizens’ choose at the local level is influenced by the skills of the candidate for mayor or councilor.
“I know a lot of localities in which small revolutions from economic viewpoints were staged. Local economic development appeared. New businesses were started, but the winners were ultimately the representatives of parties of the left. A series of things should be devoted attention here. Each election is a political struggle for which one should prepare very well,” stated Viorel Chivriga.
Expert of the Institute for European Policies and Reforms Stanislav Giletski noted that the election contenders who during the past few years delivered results owing to European projects or other initiatives implemented in the locality were advantaged at the November 5 elections. The people started to vote for palpable results, for skills and this is a factor that shows how the localities Europeanize gradually.
“The analyses we carried out revealed that the persons or the mayors who managed to archive results during their last term secured rather great support at the local level. We see so-called professionalization of the posts of mayor. So, some persons in the Republic of Moldova can have a rather short political life, but we see mayors who ran as independents and managed to obtain the second, third, fourth term in office, which actually points to a level of professionalization, as I said, and, consequently, the people at the local level reward those who in fact deliver particular results,” said Stanislav Giletski.
The public debate entitled “Local elections in the context of European course” was staged by IPN News Agency in the framework of the project “Stimulation of discussion in the mass media about traditional particularities of local elections and the need for Europeanization” which is supported by Soros Foundation Moldova.
