The Moldovan voters can be definitely bribed if they are promised they will keep their job, considers the dead of the Faculty of Education Sciences and Social Assistance of the Moldova Free International University Svetlana Rusnac. She stated for IPN that bags with rice and potatoes may not be distributed now, but the voters can expect to be promoted to a higher post. According to her, the voters who are not sure in tomorrow can be bribed.
Svetlana Rusnac noted that the voters take a more active part in elections after they reach 40. This group of voters includes the generation of people who are used to go to vote. These are those who studied and worked until 1991.
The dean said the people aged between 20 and 30 show less activism because they are poorly socialized and almost do not have political knowledge accumulated through the media. The young people often do not know who to vote for and are not interested in elections, preferring to rest.
According to Svetlana Rusnac, the voters older than 40 are more conscious in elections, but some of them show political conformism as they will choose a person with authority over them. “I think the voter turnout in the upcoming elections will be lower than in the last parliamentary elections. The general culture of voters will incline towards non-participation,” she said.
The dean also said that the geopolitical views will influence the general vote. There were always people with separate geopolitical views. This is evident in polls too. There are persons who will vote in favor of Romanian unionism or of the candidate who raise up the flag of Russia, the CIS or other organizations.
As regards the informing of voters, Svetlana Rusnac said there is a lot of information, but this is deceiving. When the mass media are divided by orientations, parties and leaders, things are unclear. “The voters are simply confused. They face difficulties in making a choice, especially if the person looks for more information in different media sources,” said Svetlana Rusnac.
As to the Moldovan diaspora, she said a part of the Moldovans who are abroad do not know or know not much about what is going on in the country and do not show political activism. However, conditions should be created for these people to vote, even if the number of persons who voted in the last elections is much lower than of people who went to work abroad.
Svetlana Rusnac fears the people will choose a President with radical views about Moldova’s foreign policy, especially as regards the relations with the Russian Federation.
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The article forms part of the IPN series “Profile of the voter: who votes the President”.
