The Action and Solidarity Party (PAS) held a protest rally on Sunday in Chisinau to condemn the government’s anti-Covid response and overall “incompetence.” The participants wore masks and maintained physical distance.
Addressing the crowd, PAS leader Maia Sandu declared: “We are here to tell them that their time is about to expire. That the time of good people is coming. We are here to show them that we are many and we are resolute (…) We are here to promise them that in the autumn we are going to bring their government down and hold them accountable for all their wrongdoings.”
Sandu urged lawmakers to end Parliament’s summer recess and assemble urgently in order to adopt relief measures for drought-hit farmers and companies struggling in the aftermath of the pandemic, with additional measures to stop the spread of the virus.
MP Sergiu Litvinenco, PAS vice president, accused president Igor Dodon of trying to prevent “decent people” from getting in key positions in the judiciary. “He knows that these decent people will punish him for the wrongdoings that he has perpetrated over the years. He is interested in a judiciary that is led by people like himself – dishonest, incompetent and corrupt.”
MP Lilian Carp said the rally would not have happened if the government understood from the very beginning that a number of laws needed to be adopted to help the population through the crisis. “Their incompetence has driven many to their graves. Their incompetence is keeping kids at home. Children have a right to education, to go to school or kindergarten.”
Iurie Lozinschi, a member of the diaspora, criticized president Dodon for “not doing anything” to help expats return to Moldova during the pandemic and urged fellow diaspora members to participate massively in the upcoming elections and vote the incumbent out.
Vlad Șuleanschi, entrepreneur and owner of a restaurant, said Moldova is the only country in the region that doesn’t have any special program to help businesses overcome the crisis.
Diana Crudu, a farmer, resented prime minister Ion Chicu’s alleged statement that farmers were tax evaders and didn’t need help. “If agriculture is such a lucrative business as (politicians) claim, why do you keep investing in TV channels and supermarkets?”