Press-Release
on the organization of the debate “What kind of President is society looking for? What kind of society does the President need?”, the 64th installment of the “Developing Political Culture through Public Debates” Series
Public debates series held by the news agency IPN in its conference room with the support of the German Foundation “Hanns Seidel”
Held on 18 October 2016, debate 64 brought together Andrei Năstase, Dignity&Truth Party presidential nominee; Dumitru Ciubaşenco, Our Party presidential nominee; and Maia Sandu, Action&Solidarity presidential nominee.
The moderator began the debate by thanking the speakers for appearing at this meeting with the press and with the public in person instead of delegating surrogates; because the presidency is also personal and nominative and the pubic should be able to evaluate specifically the person that will become the next president rather than some stand-in.
The moderator went on to announce that while IPN planned to hold debates with all the candidates for president, many refused in what can be distinguished as yet another negative tendency of the ongoing presidential race. As a result, the number of the debates to be delivered will be lower than what it could have been if all the candidates understood the role of debates for the consolidation of political culture within Moldovan society.
This time, too, IPN decided to have an assistant moderator placed in the audience to act as a liaison with the public, solicit clarifications and ask questions when needed.
It was also decided that the hosts would generally refrain from asking the candidates any provocative questions for two main reasons: first, IPN’s mission is not to provoke but rather facilitate communication between the candidates and society, between the presidential offer and the pubic demand (IPN does not consider provocations to be a proper communication technique); second, we believe that society needs a sample of election debates that differs from the usual public clashes that are marked by abusive remarks and personal attacks, which are not proper arguments in a civilized discussion that benefits everybody.
It was in this vein that the speakers were encouraged to focus on their programs and stick to the issues when asking their rivals questions.
“October 30 is the day of our great protest against the current government that shows disrespect for the country and forces the people to go abroad. We now have a historical chance of opposing by the consolidated vote of those who woke up and know that the country has a future with a new political class of which Maia Sandu also forms part,” stated Andrei Nastase.
He called on all their supporters to show wisdom and to vote for Maia Sandu. “I have confidence in Maia Sandu and ask to have confidence in my decision to take part in elections by supporting her. Otherwise, we would have favored the geopolitical candidate. We must unite against an oligarchic candidate. We all struggled to free the presidency and then other state institutions from captivity and must take the country out of poverty,” said the politician.
“We want a powerful presidential regime, while the Head of State should name the prosecutor general and the ministers. The Transnistrian dispute should be resolved. We aim to decrease the number of MPs from 101 to 71 because the people say we have too many MPs. We suggest banning the people with dual nationality from holding important posts in the state. The new Constitution must be thought up swiftly. It must reunite Moldova and unite the population,” stated Dumitru Chubashenko.
As to the presence of the Russian army on the territory from the left side of the Nistru, Dumitru Chubashenko said no foreign military force should be present on Moldova’s territory. He considers Moldova needs not an army, but a national guard.
Maia Sandu noted that corruption is the main cause of poverty. That’s why the fight against corruption by naming upright and honest people will be a priority in the President’s working program. In this connection, Maia Sandu said she accepts to be subject to any investigation, stressing only an upright person can break this vicious circle and fight corruption. As to the poll results, she stated that they agreed to take a decision based on these because they show best people’s wishes and thanked the sympathizers and members of the Party “Platform Dignity and Truth” for supporting her candidacy for the presidency.
The Agency published 6 news stories on the debate (see the English version of www.ipn.md): on 18.10.16, “Andrei Nastase: If Marian Lupu reaches runoff vote, it will mean elections had been rigged” - http://www.ipn.md/en/arhiva/79686; “Maia Sandu says what she will do first if she is elected Head of State” - http://www.ipn.md/en/arhiva/79690; “Dumitru Chubashenko: Moldova should restore relations with Russia, but keep those with EU” - http://www.ipn.md/en/arhiva/79691; on 19.10.16, “Andrei Nastase: National interest is more important than party or personal interest” - http://www.ipn.md/en/arhiva/79692; “Dumitru Chubashenko: Dissolution of Parliament is a swift solution for liberation” - http://www.ipn.md/en/arhiva/79693; “Maia Sandu: National Army has serious problems and must be reformed” - http://www.ipn.md/en/arhiva/79694.
Valeriu Vasilica, director of IPN