Valeriu Munteanu, candidate of Save Bessarabia Union for the Chisinau City Hall, argues that misinformation and propaganda is a constant phenomenon in the Republic of Moldova, representing the main tool used against the pro-European, pro-Romanian parties and their candidates.
At a press conference at IPN, Valeriu Munteanu said that propaganda and misinformation are specific elements that "have kept Plahotniuc's regime alive for a while". These were based on a "large number of propaganda tools where the truth was distorted beyond recognition, and the lie was put on a pedestal." According to him, "unfortunately, these tools through which Plahotniuc created his entire system, have not disappeared from Moldova, and are still being used."
The USB candidate states that there were and still are many media institutions in Moldova that over the years have received money from the Romanian taxpayers. And based on this money, "they extolled Plahotniuc granting him favours, randomly attacking all that is pro-European and pro-Romanian in the Republic of Moldova.
"I have never in my political life revealed names of media institutions, but this time it will be necessary, because otherwise we will not be able to separate the wheat from the chaff. And it will be very difficult to see where is the boundary between truth and misinformation,” said Valeriu Munteanu. According to him, the portal deschide.md has published a news story about the bad smell in the city, without mentioning a source. "They wrote: our sources have informed us that there are several factors behind the foul smell in the city, among which the activity of Chirtoaca, Munteanu and Herța. So, there is no source, there is no argument. They issued a thesis and, respectively, made the news”, declared the candidate.
Valeriu Munteanu says he would have ignored this and would have considered it an act of meanness on the part of some who are trying to favour another electoral candidate, if this morning a list of 11 electronic publications "from the PDM arsenal of propaganda and disinformation " hadn’t taken over this news story. "It is a great disgrace, because there is no source, but only their propagandistic imagination and a political order," the candidate stressed.
According to him, it is true that one of the most pertinent problems in the municipality is the foul smell from the treatment plant, but during the time he was minister of environment he fulfilled his duties. And, even if he had party colleagues at the head of the City Hall or "Apa-Canal Chisinau", he imposed a fine on the company and addressed the Prosecutor's Office to see how the culprits could be held criminally responsible.
Valeriu Munteanu also says that now "some tricksters" have decided to put the blame on them, and thus to favour their own candidate. "I strongly condemn the propaganda actions of the brain-washing machine of the PDM of Salaru and Plahotniuc," the candidate said. Valeriu Munteanu demands that the media institution, as well as the other11 institutions that took over the material, retract the information.
Round-up of electoral events of October 17, 2019