Ion Ceban, the Socialist Party candidate, and Andrei Donică, the candidate of "Speranța-Надежда" Professionals’ Movement, were registered by the Electoral Council of Chisinau Municipal Electoral Constituency (CECEC) as candidates for the position of general mayor of Chisinau municipality. PSRM enters the election campaign with a list of 54 candidates for the councillor position, while "Speranța-Надежда" Professionals’ Movement - with 26 people.
The duel with Andrei Năstase for the capital's City Hall should not be a harsh one, but a friendly one. The Socialist described his wish to emulate a PSRM-ACUM alliance in the chambers of the Chisinau Municipal Council. "We can agree on some solutions that are important for Chisinau, considering that probably PSRM and ACUM will have a number of mandates ranging from 38 to 45 out of 51 mandates of Chisinau City Council", said Ion Ceban.
At an IPN press conference, Daniela Bodrug, vice president of Anti-Mafia, said that the National Liberal Party and the Democracy at Home Party have responded to the invitation to discuss the topic of a common candidate. The appeal was also sent to the Liberal Party, the Party of National Unity, the Save Bessarabia Union and the Romanian Popular Party. According to the National Liberal Party leader, Vitalia Pavlicenco, if the consolidation attempt fails, then PNL will put forward the candidacy of a woman for the mayoral office, however, Vitalia Pavlicenco did not offer additional details. Furthermore, Pavlicenco announced that she is withdrawing from the party's leadership position on October 25.
Political scientist Denis Cenusa notes in his analysis for IPN entitled “Moldova's "balanced" foreign policy, the Paris-Moscow axis and the Ukrainian dossier” that during the visit to Brussels, the second after the first one in February 2017, Igor Dodon articulated the points of the old "comprehensive package for Moldova" invoked at the Munich Security Conference in February 2019. The "comprehensive package" is based on two concepts. The first refers to "promoting a balanced foreign policy" and the second refers to "strengthening the principle of neutrality", internationally recognized. According to the political analyst, if not shared by Prime Minister Maia Sandu and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and not consulted with the Moldovan civil society, these foreign policy aspirations are illegitimate to start with. However, President Dodon plans to discuss the "comprehensive package for Moldova" with the EU, US and Russia and with them "to develop a road map for its successful implementation." No matter how resonant President Dodon' s position would be abroad, his gestures seem to serve Russia's interests rather than promote the national ones, including by expressly ignoring the commitments to the Association Agreement with the EU.
IPN Director Valeriu Vasilică believes that at its last Congress the PDM missed the chance, to a large extent, to cleanse itself by calling things by their own names. Nothing has been said about endemic corruption and "unfair justice", attested by international bodies and experienced the hard way by the society. In fact, nothing was mentioned about the bank fraud committed by unidentified perpetrators and left without being investigated for five years, or the debt which the PDM government has put on the citizens’ shoulders for decades to come. Nothing about the inhumanely expelled Turkish teachers not unbeknownst to but rather by the order of former government representatives in high positions. Nothing about Vlad Plahotniuc, whose name was never ever mentioned by any speaker during the three hours of the congress. Furthermore, no one said who were those "1 or 2 persons" and why were they allowed to make decisions outside the democratic mechanisms, in violation of the internal democracy and the principles of democratic communication within the party? etc., etc. "No one explained why a new party chairman had to be elected, no one mentioned the name of the person who resigned from this position and the reasons for which he secretly left the country and is still hiding?", the author noted.
The representatives of the Slovenian company "A5 Plus Nepremicnicne Poslovanje D.O.O." claim that, following a court ruling, which they consider illegal, they risk being deprived of a real estate that they bought in Chisinau for the amount of 500 thousand euros. According to them, although the court’s decision was issued a few days ago, they had received information since February 2018 that the court would rule against the Slovenian company and that it would be dispossessed of the real estate. In the opinion of Nicolai Grishkun, co-founder of the company, the decision taken by the Chisinau magistrate shows that either he does not know the law, or pressure is put on him, or there is a corruption component. If the state wants to attract foreign investors, then authorities must take appropriate measures to ensure the protection and attraction of foreign investments, believe the investors.
The General Prosecutor's Office and the National Anticorruption Center are requested to investigate cases that have drawn the public opinion’s attention and which refer to the fictitious donations of individuals or groups of persons to political parties. "In particular, I refer to the case of fictitious donations to the Democratic Party in Criuleni district, in March 2018," writes MP Dumitru Alaiba on his blog. According to the MP, the state institutions have not been notified ex officio, but it is high time to do so now, in order to establish the scale of the operation and the existence of such cases in other districts.
Energy expert Sergiu Tofilat believes that, regardless of what President Igor Dodon and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, agree upon, gas prices for the Republic of Moldova will drop next year as . According to him, gas prices in the European Union are decreasing. In his opinion, if Igor Dodon managed to negotiate something with Vladimir Putin, this must be confirmed by a document. Prices can be reduced either by an additional agreement to the Moldova-Gaz contract with Gazprom, which modifies the calculation formula, or by eliminating the Gazprom export tax, because today about 25% of the price consists of the export tax. "If Mr. Dodon fails to show us a document confirming any agreement with Putin or Gazprom, I cannot believe his statements, because, based on the current formula, the gas will be cheaper anyway. That is why it remains to be seen what will Mr. Dodon present in order to confirm his agreement with Gazprom or Mr. Putin”, said the expert. The President of the Republic of Moldova, Igor Dodon, who paid a visit to Moscow, declared that he agreed with the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, that this year, the price for natural gas should not increase, and in the next year, it will actually be reduced.
Details on IPN!
