This year is likely to witness the appearance of conflicts between the Government and the presidential administration, the Government and the opposition, the presidential administration and the opposition. Though the powers of the new Head of State are much more limited, his ambitions were electorally overdone. The behavioral “red lines” between the Democratic Party and the Party of Socialists are not yet clear, if it is admitted that the dominant party of the ruling alliance helped Igor Dodon to become President. The conclusions are contained in a publication that analyzes the risks of 2017 for the Republic of Moldova, presented by the Institute for Development and Social Initiative “Viitorul”, IPN reports.

In the launch, expert Ion Tabarta noted the reformation of the political ranks is one of the risks of 2017. “In 2016, the appearance of new political players was prefigured, but we cannot yet say that these players will work long. We will possibly continue to have particular surprises because some of the political projects gradually united in order not to lose their influence and a new player could appear on the political arena,” he said.

The expert also said that new street protests could take place given that the people didn’t feel improvements. “It is not yet clear who would lead them as, for now, only the parties of the pro-European opposition could mount protests. It is highly improbable that sympathizers and members of the Party of Socialists will take to the streets now that their leader became Head of State. We will see if the Party “Action and Solidarity” and the Platform “Dignity and Truth” are able to resist the wave of discouragement after the presidential elections and if their messages remain attractive for the main groups that can mobilize against the government,” stated Ion Tabarta.

According to the expert, the systemic adjustments in the interests of the oligarchic system are another risk of this year. The Democratic Party and its acolytes will actively plead for amending the mixed electoral system (50/50), which combines party lists and elements of the majority system applied to uninominal constituencies. This system would radically change the rules of the political game, creating new mechanisms of political representation of electoral constituencies and stimulating competition based on uninominal lists for 50% of the current seats of MP.

The risks were previsioned with the assistance of communities of policy thinkers. The respondents were asked to simulate the biggest challenges this year for Moldova.