No matter what group a person form part of, the diaspora or the voters from home, it is important that the delivered messages do not create new fissures after the elections. There is political life after elections too, both for the citizens and for political parties, which should coexist. This thought should prevail over the aggressive messages promoted by supporters of parties, candidates who run for the office of President, Dionis Cenușa, a political scientist, researcher at the Institute of Political Sciences at Liebig-Justus University in Giessen, Germany, said in IPN’s public debate “Split society and parallel worlds in elections in Moldova: causes and effects”.
According to the researcher, the diaspora in the West will mobilize considerably for the runoff vote. The statement made by President Igor Dodon about the diaspora, that it is a parallel world and has other interests than the citizens from home, is inappropriate and the person who advised him to say it did him a disfavor. By such a statement, the candidate probably intended to induce a contradiction between the diaspora in the West and that in Russia because in parallel Igor Dodon used messages by which he tried to mobilize the voters in Russia and told them about the possibility of obtaining amnesty. That’s why Igor Dodon’s intention was to polarize the diaspora between the East and the West rather than to create a conflict between the diaspora in general and those from home.
In another development, the political scientist noted that the statehood-unionist “fissure” in Moldovan society is one of those fissures that would determine the fate of the Moldovan state as polls show that the number of those with unionist aspirations grows. There are different motivations behind these aspirations: from pensions and social benefits that the Romanian state can offer to symbolic motivations related to the historical aspect. “The worse is the Republic of Moldova’s performance in delivering public services of a high quality, the bigger will be this fissure,” he stated.
According to the senior contributor of IPN News Agency, if the Moldovans vote for this reunification in a referendum, a decision will have to be made about ATU Gagauzia, the Transnistrian region as to the provision of independence.
Dionis Cenușa stated the oscillation between the East and the West is perpetuated by politicians who this way segment the voters and can easier gain their votes by promoting particular myths, stereotypes. “The Russian Federation uses a lot the negative image of NATO, including in the Republic of Moldova. That’s why it is practically noxious to speak about any relationship with NATO, even if it goes to cooperation”.
There is also the tendency to broader use the notion of balanced foreign policy and this is used by Maia Sandu, not only by Igor Dodon, and was also used by Vlad Filat and the Alliances for European Integration.
At the current stage, emphasis is placed on the balancing of the foreign dialogue so as to diminish the external impact that could be felt by Moldova. “Regrettably, the Republic of Moldova in many regards is a collateral victim of the unstable relations between geopolitical players in the region. For this reason, Moldova should prove diplomatic aptitude so as to efficiently use the available economic and geostrategic benefits and not to be attracted into all kinds of geopolitical rivalries.”
The debate “Split society and parallel worlds in elections in Moldova: causes and effects” was the eighth installment of the series “We and the President: Who elects who, who represents who” that is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
