The political parties that entered Parliament face a conundrum. While the electoral bloc NOW is being courted by both the Democrats and the Socialists, all three sides need to be prudent if they don’t want to lose their voters’ support.
Political pundit Victor Ciobanu thinks there are certainly some negotiations under way, but they are not for the everybody to see. According to him, the odds of the Socialist Party being swallowed up by the Democratic Party if they form a coalition are rather high. “It’s their funeral if they agree to a formal coalition with the Democratic Party. For the Democrats this won’t be a stroke of luck either, because Vladimir Plahotniuc will be forced to surrender a few positions, after succeeding in the last few years to make his party the sole holder of power. But now he will have to trade off some cabinet seats. I think it will be much more feasible and cheap for him to lure individual MPs”, Victor Ciobanu said during a talk show on TV8.
Politologist Igor Volnițchi says that the Socialists are in an “interesting” position right now, because they face risks both if they decide to enter a coalition with the Democrats or if they remain opposition. “This party has been in opposition for a while now and they cannot remain there forever (...) Moreover, if the Socialists agree to such a coalition, they will have to explain it to Moscow, given the ‘war’ waged by the Democrats against Russia”. At the same time, there are enough risks for the Democrats as well, says Volnițchi.
Pundit Igor Boțan thinks all the parties are now in a complicated situation. The fact that the bloc NOW let itself be courted by both DPM and SPRM, rather than the other way around, was a smart tactic, says Boțan. But then, the pundit sees no reason why the Democrats and the Socialists could do without NOW and form a coalition. The only problem is that the Socialists would like to be treated as equals, but the Democrats obviously have the upper hand as they hold control over the law enforcement and regulatory bodies.
The Socialists and the Democrats each invited NOW twice to sit at the negotiating table, but were turned down. No announcements have been made so far about a potential coalition between the two.