Parliamentary elections will take place in Moldova on November 30. Some of the political parties have already started, officially or not, electoral actions, while some haven't. IPN Agency set out to sketch the “portraits” of political parties as recorded by society's perception, before the official start of the electoral campaign. We consider this to be a useful exercise for Moldovan voters, who will gain additional and concentrated information that they may find useful on the day of elections, and also for the parties themselves, who will get some hints on how to improve their image. This portrait might also help to better understand what one or another Moldovan party wants to be and what it really is. To this goal, many experts have been asked to comment on the parties' chance to make it into the next Parliament, the way they fulfilled their previous electoral promises, the possible coalitions, topics, tactics and strategies they might employ to get the voters' attention. Political parties are presented in order of the number of seats they hold in the current Legislative and of the results obtained during the previous parliamentary elections in 2010.
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The Democratic Action Party (PAD) was very active immediately after its inception. Formerly Mihai Godea, its leader, had been a very visible Liberal-Democratic MP. His party, created after he departed PLDM, was seen as alternative right, but the party has been idle since. If it participates in the fall elections, it is lagging behind with advertising and doesn't have any chances to attract enough votes.
Political expert Olga Nicolenco thinks the Democratic Action Party is another one-man party, where only its leader Mihai Godea is visible. PAD has a good image, but won't accede to the Parliament unless on a joint list or in an electoral bloc.
Political analyst Denis Cenusa agrees that PAD is only about Mihai Godea, but underlines that judging by the lack of activity, the party seems to not want to fight for its spot under the sun on the political arena. PAD failed to attract public or civil society leaders who could build an image for it.
Victor Juc, of the Institute for Legal and Political Research of the Moldovan Academy of Sciences, recalls that PAD was created ahead of mayoral elections in Chisinau. The party fielded current Prosecutor General Corneliu Gurin, whose function required him to leave the party. Juc says that PAD lacks any kind of image.
He isn't sure about the party's position on the political spectrum. Mihai Godea was very active in PLDM, he was the voice of the party, but has now become idle and doesn't have the personal quality to attract 6% of votes needed to pass the political threshold. Juc thinks this is the end for Godea's political career.
Lina Grau, political commentator, says PAD positioned itself as a rightist party, was active at the beginning, created territorial branches and a youth organization, but the leaders' plans seem to have changed. The expert thinks Mihai Godea isn't serious about running in the elections. If he were, he would find more occasions to get some spotlight.
This means PAD is unlikely to enter the elections alone, but if it joins a bloc, it's not clear who would be its partner. “I don't think PAD has any chances to make it into the Parliament. It's too late to make an impression on voters”, stressed Lina Grau.
Other parties are already very active before the elections. The Liberals have been visiting diaspora communities for a year, the Democrats have organized some campaigns, the Lib-Dems launch ad spots and actions, and there are also many non-parliamentary but active parties.
Lina Grau thinks that if PAD decides to spend on a campaign, it will be wasted money. She suggests that PAD may have indeed been another politician's secret project and this would explain its fading away. If it was financed by someone else with an agenda, if the goals changed, the funding stops.
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As part of this campaign, IPN has already published a review of the experts' opinions on the Communists' Party, the Liberal-Democratic Party, the Democratic Party, the Liberal Party, the Liberal Reformists Party, the Renaissance Party and the Socialists' Party.
Mariana Galben, IPN
