The title of this article should actually be: Andrei Nastase between Chirtoaca and Ceban. However, the statements made by the elected mayor general of Chisinau municipality in the program “In Depth” on ProTV Chisinau channel remind namely of Bismarck and Churchill. Besides being exceptional politicians, they both were very astute and their expressions became very popular. In this connection, Andrei Nastase’s affirmation that “if the voter turnout had been 50%, the result would have been probably different”, evokes the ironical quote of Churchill: A politician needs the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn't happen.
Even if Andrei Nastase’s expectations of the voter turnout didn’t come true, he scored a very important victory and this means only one thing: from now on the voters have big expectations and Andrei Nastase must show dexterities of a politician and, especially, organizational and managerial skills. It is the moment to mention here the harsh assertion of Bismarck: People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war or before an election. The voters know this very well. That’s why political technologists advise their clients to promise a lot, but to achieve at least something palpable, fueling hope. The fact that the technologists‘ pieces of advice are useful is proven by the fresh example of the former ad-interim mayor Silvia Radu, who needed only a fir tree, a flower bed, which cost a lot, and the wafting of the dust from roadway to sidewalks within the so-called great cleanup to increase her rating from several tens of percentage to 17% in only several months! It seems that Silvia Radu and her technologists lacked the inspiration to show the voters in Chisinau also the distant horizons of the city.
In contrast, the winner Andrei Nastase and the defeated Ion Ceban depicted distant horizons and reached the runoffs of the mayoral elections. They both had very nicely elaborated electoral programs, of long prospects, even if they knew they struggled for a one-year term in office only. That’s why in the program on ProTV, Andrei Nastase left aside the distant horizons of his electoral program and spoke about his readiness to: cooperate with the Municipal Council; solve the problems at the Central Market and the Central Bus Terminal; find high-quality paint for road markings; offer other conveniences to the citizens, etc. This is how the striking contrast between distant horizons of the city and its current problems appeared. This suggests one thing – the immediate priorities should be identified straightaway, for the short and medium terms, so as to at least keep up hope that the distant horizons will be one day reached.
Such statements as: “I will make sure that the municipal services work in the interests of the citizens and do their job. ... good projects started by Dorin Chirtoaca will be continued, while the bad ones will be eliminated” suggest that things will go rather by inertia, if not worth than at present. In this regard, Andrei Nastase’s past is literally and figuratively flanked by the inheritance from ex-mayor Dorin Chirtoaca and his projects, while the future by Ion Ceban, who resigned as presidential adviser in order to fully devote himself to his activity on the Municipal Council. Evidently, Ion Ceban’s task during the next year will be to prove that Andrei Nastase’s distant horizons are actually a kind of Fata Morgana, while his offer is realistic. It will be thus interesting and captivating to see how Andrei Nastase sets his priorities and recruits the team for achieving these. However, after his term in office is validated, Andrei Nastase should be given those standard 100 days of protection against propagandistic attacks. As any new elected official, he really needs a minimum period of accommodation, restructuring and optimization at the City Hall for launching the priority activities. It will be probably enough for the voters to understand if Andrei Nastase can evade from the Chirtoaca-Ceban grasp.
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