Unionist civic leaders announced they will take part in the parliamentary elections of February 24, 2019 on the lists of the Party “Democracy at Home” that will have the “Union” symbol as an emblem. In a news conference at IPN, the leader of the National Unity Bloc Ion Leashchenko said the decision to take part in the elections was taken due to the current political conjuncture, given that most of the declared unionist parties withdrew or threw their support to other parties that do not represent the unionist voters and it was necessary to represent these voters in elections.
Ion Leashchenko said the unionist voters are many in number and even the most pessimistic polls show 20-25% of the voters are unionist. De facto, the number of those who want the union with Romania is close to the critical mass of 50%. “Nevertheless, the unionist voters, who are the most conscious ones, always chose to vote usefully. The unionists never felt represented by political players to whom they would give a vote of confidence. I daily receive tens of calls from mayors, artists, local councilors who ask me whom we would leave the union to. These people, our people, should be represented with dignity in the future Parliament,” stated the politician.
Anatol Ursu, former leader of the unionist civic movement “Moldova’s Youth”, said it’s time for all the unionist projects implemented at civic level to develop and this can happen only by involving civic players in politics. The involvement in governance and formulation of clear policies as regards the multidimensional cooperation with Romania are the next logical steps that should be taken.
“The unionists are the most active part of civil society. We started voluntary civic work for the Union in February 2010. During eight years, the unionist civic movement grew progressively and the implemented projects were larger and larger. More than one third of the mayor’s offices of the country signed twinning agreements with mayor’s offices of Romania. Owing to such cooperation relations, there were implemented projects to the value of tens or hundreds of thousands of euros and these benefitted directly the citizens of the Republic of Moldova. Multiple information campaigns were carried out,” stated Anatol Ursu.
Vasile Costiuc, current president of the Party “Democracy at Home”, expressed his readiness to cooperate with young unionists. “I’m glad that these young people, who during many years showed they are devoted to the cause by absolutely disinterested civic work, decided to take this step. I’ve always been a unionist. The goal of the participation in these elections is to offer a young, Romanian, and what is more important, clean initiative, for our people - those who have waited for concrete steps towards the union for 27 years,” he noted.
Journalist Alina Paniko said she decided to become involved in these elections because three was a risk that the unionist voters will remain unrepresented and marginalized. “It seems normal for me to run alongside my colleges from the unionist movement so as to help build the Union. The contacting of all the mayors and local councilors who voted for the Union in the centenary year is the next step that will be taken to strengthen the new unionist political force,” she stated.
