Press Release
on the organization of the electoral debate “We and the President: who elects who, who represents who”, edition 1. Public debates series held by the news agency IPN in its conference room with the support of the German Foundation “Hanns Seidel”

On October 21, IPN planned to hold the first electoral debate that was to involve candidates for President Dorin Chirtoacă, of the UNION Electoral Bloc, and Octavian Țîcu, of the National Unity Party. The latter didn’t show up even if he earlier confirmed his participation. He argued he does not have enough time to reach the venue.

Childcare allowances of €50 to €100 a month, agricultural subsidies of €170 per hectare, monthly pensions of €200 to €500 and salaries of €500 to €1,000. These are figures that describe the realities in Romania that were enumerated by Dorin Chirtoacă, the candidate for President the UNION Electoral Bloc.

In a video interview for IPN News Agency, he said the people see that the life is better on the other side of the Prut, while the pensions, salaries and childcare allowances, agricultural subsidies, investments and free European funds are accessible to all the citizens and these amount to hundreds and thousands of euros. These things are real and do not compare with the promises made by practically all the candidates for President. What is real in Romania cannot be seen in the promises made by these.

According to Dorin Chirtoacă, the slogan with which he entered the campaign prior to the presidential elections is “Union for All”. His goal is to promote the union in the upcoming elections and in all the elections that will be held from now on so that the people realize the benefits of the union. “Union was earlier a scarecrow, but ten years ago, when we managed to achieve results in this elections, the union became a hope,” stated the candidate.

He also said that the union with Romania is the only way by which prosperity, security, peace and welfare can be achieved in the Republic of Moldova. Time has come when the unionist current can be openly promoted until the union objective is achieved.

Dorin Chirtoacă is the president of the Liberal Party and the co-president of the UNION Electoral Bloc that also includes the National Liberal Party, the Save Bessarabia Union, the National People’s Party and the Party “Democracy at Home”. He is one of the eight candidates competing for presidency in the November 1 elections.

The candidate for President of the UNION Electoral Bloc Dorin Chirtoacă said that together with the members of the Bloc, after the presidential elections they will continue to call on the members of the National Unity Party to join their Bloc so that they promote the unionist current in concert.

“In democracy, it is normal when there are more candidates, but the people expect one unionist candidate and one pro-European candidate to compete in these elections. Society is like this. There are citizens with unionist views and there are citizens with pro-European views. We must show that we do not hamper each other. If we, the unionists, come together and grow institutionally and are represented in Parliament, this is also a way for asserting oneself for validating unionism as a new political current in Moldova, related to hope, to the forging of the Union, for the future parliamentary elections, for other presidential elections,” stated Dorin Chirtoacă.

The candidate considers that the President should be elected by Parliament. “I think we should restore the election of the President by Parliament, as most of the European countries elect their Presidents. The people already understood that if the President was suspended for so many times between 2016-2019, the power is anyway held by the parliamentary majority and the Government. The citizens are put in the situation to vote twice: one time for Parliament and then for the President so that the power is formed in the state, and then the confrontation between the President and Parliament, the struggle for power starts. That’s why these demands to give more powers to the President appear,” stated Dorin Chirtoacă.

“Our struggle for the Union covered many generations, since the occupation. Time has come to build the Union step by step, so that it is achieved. The Union became a hope. All the unionists must combine forces so that we can persuade most of the citizens that there is no fear and danger. Now, in 2020, it is time to take this first step to validate unionism as a hope for Moldova and then we can build the Union in stages and can all live better,” was Dorin Chirtoacă’s message to the voters.

The Agency published 3 news stories on the debate (see the English version of www.ipn.md): on 21.10.20, „Dorin Chirtoacă: Union became a hope” - https://www.ipn.md/en/dorin-chirtoaca-union-became-a-hope-8008_1076993.html; „Dorin Chirtoacă: I want all unionists to form one unionist entity” - https://www.ipn.md/en/dorin-chirtoaca-i-want-all-unionists-to-form-one-unionist-8008_1076997.html; „Dorin Chirtoacă: CEC should have banned large-scale meetings with voters” - https://www.ipn.md/en/dorin-chirtoaca-cec-should-have-banned-large-scale-meetings-with-8008_1076998.html.

Valeriu Vasilica, director of IPN