The electoral debate that involved the trustworthy persons of Igor Dodon and Maia Sandu, Socialist councilor Ion Ceban and Liberal-Democratic MP Vadim Pistrinciuc, was heated and full of mutual accusations. However, unlike the debates between the candidates for President, this was poorer in factological errors. The authors of sic! decided to check the accuracy of the accusations made by the two politicians and presented the conclusions in a new article, quoted by IPN.
Ion Ceban said Maia Sandu reintroduced the History of Romanians in schools together with Shleahtitski... According to the authors of the sic! article, the assertion is false because the History of Romanians has been taught in schools in Moldova, with small interruptions, since the declaration of independence, including in the period when Communist Vladimir Voronin (2001-2009) was President. The Ministry of Education didn’t change the name of the subject taught in schools.
Vadim Pistrinciuc said: “I want to thank Mister Igor Dodon for voting Nicolae Timofti, who is a declared unionist, President in 2012 ..”. sic! says the assertion is manipulating. In 2012, Igor Dodon, after freshly leaving the Party of Communists, voted for Nicolae Timofti only after he had consultations with this and put forward ten conditions named by him “Statehood Test”.
Ion Ceban said: “About Crimea, Mister Dodon said exactly what Trump said”. The assertion is manipulating as Trump’s position on the issue is different from that of Igor Dodon, who stated it in a program on RTR Moldova channel. In September 2016, Trump accused Obama of allowing Putin to take Crimea and that the people forgive Obama this. Ion Ceban probably makes reference to a quotation taken out of the context of an interview of 2014, where Trump says that “Putin is already there (in Crimea). But I’m not there. Obama is there”, says the sic! article.
In the debate, Vadim Pistrinciuc said: “The PSRM supported the anti-constitutional referendum held in Gagauzia”. This assertion is partially true. In February 2014, the population of the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia was consulted about the entry into the EU and the entry into the Eurasian Union. The local organizers named this exercise a referendum, even if it wasn’t recognized by the CEC and had no legal consequence. Even if the PSRM didn’t take part in the organization of the ‘referendum’ as a party, the leader of the PSRM Igor Dodon repeatedly condemned in public the legal action taken against the organizers.
The full article can be read in Romanian on the website of the project sic.md. Sic! is a project of IPN News Agency implemented with the assistance of Soros Foundation Moldova.
