Vasile Costiuc, the candidate for mayor of Chisinau of the Party “Democracy at Home”, said most of the competitors registered as runners in the May 20 new mayoral elections represent someone, but new things and solutions to the City Hall can be brought only by free people. He is one of the people who considers himself free and without political commitments to someone. The candidate presented his electoral program in the public debate “I ask you to elect me mayor because...” staged by IPN News Agency on April 24.
Vasile Costiuc said the Chisinau City Hall needs resolute managers who can achieve the development objectives. He promises to be such a mayor. The candidate thanked for the offered possibility of stating his opinions and of speaking about the management of Chisinau in his view and the projects he would like to implement in the city. An information blockage is witnessed in the current election campaign as the media holdings decided not to hold debates. “This is very serious for our democracy that hasn’t yet arrived home and is still wandering somewhere,” stated the candidate.
According to Vasile Costiuc, more public discussions should be held, even contradictory ones, with other partners, candidates of the right so as to transmit a clear signal as to how important the capital city is for the European future of Moldova to the citizens. They try to promote apolitical or independence candidates in the current campaign, but there are no independents actually. They are candidates of parties. “The capital city cannot have an apolitical mayor. A mayor deals with public, social policies and is a politician by definition. Almost none of those who run independently win,” he noted.
The candidate considers the upcoming elections are important for the inhabitants of Chisinau, who wait for proper management, order, roads, public transport and expect many other problems inherited from the previous administration to be solved. They also wait for a clear signal and message that the current government can be changed and this thing can be started in Chisinau now so that the government is changed at parliamentary level by democratic ways in autumn.
As regards his electoral program, Vasile Costiuc said this contains initiatives that can be implemented during a year of office. He intends to stage public discussions on a new organogram of the Chisinau City Hall. Among his priorities, he enumerated a different system of managing affairs in the municipality, electronic services and systems that would eliminate the long lines and corruption at the City Hall, development of a general urban plan for stopping chaotic constructions, building of a new City Hall that would incorporate all the municipal divisions and services that would provide services of a high quality. “The functioning system at the City Hall should be improved,” stated the candidate.
According to ADEPT executive director Igor Botan, the project’s standing expert, two components of Vasile Costiuc’s platform can be emphasized: the political one and the administrative one. From political perspective, the candidate considers the new elections in Chisinau municipality are a prelude to this autumn’s parliamentary elections. From administrative perspective, the candidate enumerated several important things, such as a new organogram for Chisinau, a new urban development plan, a new building for the municipal administration. These are all preconditions for winning a full term in office in the elections of 2019.
The public debate “I ask you to elect me mayor because...” was the 89th installment of the series of debates “Developing political culture through political debates” that are financially supported by the German Foundation “Hanns Seidel”.
