Both the actions and the inactions of the opposition can be decisive in ensuring the political stability of the country, as well as the opposition's own resilience, Dionis Cenusa writes in an analytical article for the IPN Agency.
He believes that the Bloc NOW is facing four major challenges, whose administration can open new "window of opportunity" or, on the contrary, limit oppositions’ actions and impact.
To begin with, the political scientist thinks that the bloc NOW needs to decide if it wants to influence the government process or has already decided that it will hold the opposition role in parliament. The difficulty of such a decision depends on the success of the Democrats of establishing a coalition with the Shor Party, the three independent candidates, and the necessarily at least 11 representatives of the Socialists, explains Dionis Cenusa.
If the slightest risk persists for such a scenario to take shape, then the Bloc NOW needs to prepare for early elections or the forced prolongation of the current government by creating the "technical government" institution, the political analyst points out.
The second challenge, highlighted by a political scientist, is that the opposition faces a dilemma about its engagement with voters that so far, though with many difficulties, took place via protests. Established from protests, Platform DA and PAS will decide how and with what they replace. If they overlook this, the created void will soon be filled with the activism of other new or old political forces, Dionis Cenusa argues.
The third challenge mentioned by Dionis Cenusa is the form in which the Electoral Bloc NOW will operate after it enters the parliament. Both parties need to establish a mechanism of co-operation within the legislature, which would prevent a painful divorce in the future, suggests the political scientist.
Last but not least, he stresses that the opposition should learn to actively promote European integration, even if it is resisting the Democrats' attempts to mock reforms or the Socialists ones to strengthen a pro-Russian agenda.
Before the February 2019 elections, the opposition focused on exhaustive criticism of the government and hesitated to refer to the positive aspects of European integration that Democrats exploited in its favor, the political scientist concludes.
