Independent candidate in the new parliamentary elections that will take place in single-member constituency No. 38 Hâncești, Grigore Cobzac, said he has all the experience and knowledge needed to be elected as an MP and hopes the voters will put their trust in him. At the same time, he said he is ready to have a dialogue on the identification of the best common candidate of the political forces of the center-right. He made such statements in a public debate entitled “Stake of candidates vs. stake of voters” that involved candidates for MP in constituency No. 38 Hâncești, second round, and was staged by IPN News Agency.
Grigore Cobzac said that initially he took the decision to run in these elections out of protest, but now this decision is assumed and is supported by the team that is behind him, and he hopes it is also supported by the voters. “I’m not a beginner in the public sphere. I have experience of working as a district councilor, as a district head, as an MP and, more recently, as a town councilor. I have a very interesting experience, by the way, and can put it at the service of the voters from this constituency and not only. To a great extent, my experience is related to Hâncești town and it would be a pitty not to put this knowledge to the disposal of the people from Hâncești,” he stated, noting he is full of ideas and is eager to take up his duties as an MP if the people vote for him.
According to him, the voters in Hâncești, as all the citizens of the Republic of Moldova, do not have much confidence in politicians who come to them and ask their vote on any occasion, either in local elections or in parliamentary and other elections, as they don’t see their living conditions improving in time. The people want a visible change. His agenda of MP will mainly cover local problems, such as water supply and sewerage, budgets for small schools, transportation of students and cultural projects. He will propose a bill that would allow to provide from the state budget that mandatory co-financing for projects financed with foreign funds. This way, the local public authorities that always lack funds will be able to attract foreign investments so as to contribute to the modernization of localities. His agenda will also include the bank fraud and the justice sector reform that should be promoted based on the opinions of the Venice Commission.
At the same time, the independent candidate is ready to discuss with the pro-European forces of the center right so as to identify a common candidate. The voters of the left are much more faithful and vote in a more determined way than those of the right, who usually unite for the runoffs. The elections on March 15 will be held in one round.
Grigore Cobzac said the voters of the center-right in Hâncești constituency consider Igor Dodon is the major danger as they see how the country is isolated, how schemes are undertaken and how state institutions are taken under control. “As an independent candidate, I’m ready to discuss with all the election runners. Particular moves were made to identify a common candidate and I appreciate the gesture of the PUN and PPPDA,” he stated.
The candidate noted the current Parliament is not representative as it does not include persons together with whom he could promote the most important reforms for the country’s modernization, primarily the justice sector reform, and could hold those suspected of corruption accountable as many of these are in Parliament. “But the people wait for results. Regrettably, we missed the chance of changing the ratio of forces in Parliament after Plahotniuc fled the country, when the PDM was demoralized and the Socialists were maximally stressed,” stated Grigore Cobzac.
The debate also involved the Liberal Democratic Party’s candidate Anatolie Postolachi and the UNION Electoral Bloc’s candidate Dorin Chirtoacă.
The first round of held on February 17 featured the Democratic Party’s candidate Ion Mereuță, the Shor Party’s candidate Vitalie Balinschi, and Vladimir Bolea, who represented the Action and Solidarity Party’s candidate Olesea Stamate. The candidate of the Party of Socialists Ștefan Gațcan was also invited to the debate, but he invoked emergency professional reasons that prevented him from coming.
The debate “Stake of candidates vs. stake of voters” that involved candidates for MP in constituency No. 38 Hâncești, second round, was the 126th installment of the series of debates “Developing political culture through public debates” that is supported by the German foundation “Hanns Seidel”.
