Expert in political sciences Victor Stepaniuc considers the people in Belarus should be urged to ensure peace, to have a dialogue so as not to destroy their country owing to the political ambitions and wimps of Alexandr Lukashenko, on the one hand, and of political leaders who play geopolitical games, on the other hand. According to him, the lesson of Belarus should be also learned by the government and the opposition of the Republic of Moldova. The expert developed the issue in IPN’s public debate “Situation in Belarus: mutual influences with world”.
“We must admit that during these 30 years of independent development of our states, probably namely Belarus is the country with which we had the best political and especially socioeconomic, commercial relations. During the most difficult times for our economy, Belarus was near us. It helped us, bought our products and made effort to open up the markets for us. A lot of Moldovan-Belarusian economic projects were implemented together with all the regimes in Moldova, in the times of Snegur, of Luchinschi, of President Voronin and after 2009,” stated Victor Stepaniuc.
According to him, this fact shows that the Belarusian model is favorable not only to the people of Belarus, but also to the Republic of Moldova. Surely, a more authoritarian regime is wanted by Moldovan society given the instability witnessed during 30 years of independence, with 26 governments. “For a large part of society, Lukashenko was a model, a model of good organizer, of controlling the administration, of fighting corruption and so on,” he stated, noting the current crisis also revealed the faults of such a model.
The ex-Deputy Prime Minister said he considers the President and the Government of Moldova acted correctly by congratulating Lukashenko on his victory in the August 9 elections, but this crisis is an internal matter of Belarus.
According to him, the Republic of Moldova, being one of the poorest states in Europe, with all the problems faced in the economy and the political life, does not have what to teach the people in Belarus and it’s shameful when opposition or ruling parties without country programs and NGOs financed with unclear funds issue statements against the Belarusians.
Victor Stepaniuc admits that the situation in Belarus could generate particular moods and could influence somehow the situation in Moldova, where presidential elections are to be held on November 1. He considers the elections in Moldova cannot be rigged. “There is a verified electoral system and no one during 30 years could prove that the elections were rigged. However, the Republic of Moldova has a rather rich democratic experience, even if this is not perfect. The population will vote consciously and will be interested in not having rigged elections.”
The public debate “Situation in Belarus: mutual influences with world” was the 151st installment of the series of debates “Developing political culture through public debates” that are supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
