On June 14, the citizens of Moldova will vote the new local administration. IPN News Agency set the goal to determine how the local public authorities coped during the current term that is coming to an end. Experts, opinion leaders and representatives of civil society from different settlements will assess the activity of the local authorities of the country’s districts and municipalities. IPN series: Briceni district
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Briceni district has 39 settlements, 28 mayor’s offices and a total population of over 74,000.
The residents of Briceni district in the elections will vote people, not parties. The mayors who worked will be reelected, while those who didn’t deliver the promises made in the election campaign four years ago will be replaced because the people assess the tangible results, said the head of the Briceni-based public association “Nicolida-Nord” Nicolae Voloshchuk, noting that of all the promises made by the local elected offices, only 30% were fulfilled.
According to the local expert, the problems in Briceni district are the same as in most of the districts of the country. The people want more opportunities at local level, more workplaces, especially for the young people who go abroad to work in large numbers. There are all kinds of problems and in every election campaign the candidates promise to deal with them, but they are solved not everywhere. There are settlements, especially large ones, which have efficient mayor’s offices, with insistent managers who achieved important results. For example, they won projects to build a water pipeline, a sewerage system. In the large villages, the inhabitants agreed to contribute money so that their living conditions are improved. In the smaller villages, they did not. Even if the needs related to the infrastructure are the same there, the possibilities to do something are much lower or inexistent.
As regards the territorial-administrative organization, Nicolae Voloshchuk said a formula is needed that would be acceptable to the people and the authorities too. For example, a mayor’s office cannot be set up in small settlements, with about 500 residents, because the costs for maintaining the administration are unjustified. This also applies to education institutions, which cannot be maintained when the number of children is low. Such a factor as convenience should also be taken into account. Conditions must be created for the people to reach the mayor’s offices in the neighboring settlements when necessary.
The local expert also said that policies to support the young families and to create workplaces are first of all needed. Those running in the June 14 local elections have similar electoral platforms. They all speak about the same and the people do not know who to believe.
Elena Nistor, IPN
