Almost one year before the parliamentary elections, a part of the politicians already started to make electoral statements and to stage electoral activities. This is a newer phenomenon that, for its part, forms part of an absolutely new one, the mixed electoral system. Surely, these phenomena cannot pass unnoticed and unanalyzed. It’s true that a part of the politicians became involved in these things directly, while others indirectly, in a camouflaged way. A part admits to this involvement, while the other part does not want to admit. But the general perception is that many politicians already started to campaign. The opinions were stated in the public debate “Starting position of political parties and potential independent candidates on alternative pro-European platform before the electoral year”, which is the 81st installment of the series “Developing political culture by public debates” staged by IPN News Agency.
Standing expert of IPN’s project Igor Botan, director of the Association for Participatory Democracy (ADEPT), said that parliamentary elections will take place in Moldova in a year, in a special context, given the new electoral system that molded the party system. “The fact that during over 25 years we had used the proportional representation system shows that our party system was shaped primarily by this electoral system. Now that the rules of the game are changed and new requirements are introduced for political parties, we should anticipate things and see how we can have competitive, free and desirably fair elections. It is very important to understand that the new electoral system, its uninominal part, is a very subtle and sensitive issue. Things change dramatically because the uninominal majority system is the system of lost votes, while the proportional voting system is an honest one,” stated the expert.
In the same connection, Mihai Popsoi, deputy chairman of the Party “Action and Solidarity”, said the decision to create a platform between the PAS and the Party “Platform Dignity and Truth” for the upcoming elections was partially imposed by the mixed-member electoral system and is aimed at preventing the loss of many votes and at ensuring competitiveness in single-member constituencies. “It is vital for the center-right parties to combine forces in the fight against the PSRM and the colossus with ceramic legs PDM. If the right remains divided and struggles inside it, the elections will be doomed to failure. Thus, the strengthening of the center-right segment derives from the circumstances and is the result of the cooperation relations established in the presidential elections, when the candidate of the right Maia Sandu polled the largest number of votes ever won by the right in Moldova,” stated Mihai Popsoi. He added that an increasing number of parties appear on the right and several more center-right parties could appear at the start of next year to steal votes from the PAS-PPPDA bloc that is decided to win the elections by a very larger percentage on the list of blocs and with a sufficiently high number of candidates chosen in constituencies.
Kirill Motpan, secretary general of the Party “Platform Dignity and Truth” (PPPDA), said the consolidation of the pro-European and anti-oligarchic forces remains a priority and the people’s confidence in the change wanted by the center-right forces depends on this. The new electoral system that was insistently promoted by the PDM and PSRM will give a harsh blow to the democratic values in Moldova. “We will suggest the same thing as now – the people should become more actively involved to ensure the change. Or Moldova could reach an economic and political deadlock not only at internal level, but also at international level. The mixed system is favorable only to the PDM and PSRM and we should do anything for the people to understand this. They will try to remain in power,” stated Kirill Motpan.
Alexandru Bujorean, deputy chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party (PLDM), said the vote given by the people in 2014 was betrayed and redirected to promote the narrow interests of the PDM and PSRM. “The PDM, which won only 19 seats of MP, now holds a majority of seats and these were obtained by corruption, blackmail and severe public manipulation. The upcoming elections will be marked by the same actions of the PDM-PSRM that want to divide the power in the state after the elections. They possess administrative resources and control justice, have money in pockets and have evil thoughts. We, the three authentic opposition parties, the PAS, PPPDA and PLDM, have something else. We showed in time our resistance and correctness and that we can be a serious alternative and are immune to blackmail and corruption and that we have people who share these values at the local level. Thus, the PLDM reiterates its call to create a common platform that is the only real chance to get rid of this power,” stated Alexandru Bujorean.
Civic activist Valeriu Pasa expressed his dissatisfaction with the fact that the three opposition parties decided to form a bloc only in a year of the presidential elections at a time when the goal of the opposition is to seize power. “A series of questions appear: Why two parties and not three? Why did they need a year for things that were evident a year ago? We use theoretical concepts about politics, but in Moldova we are not in an ordinary political situation, where there is liberal competition. The question now is not who takes over, but if we will yet have democracy after the next elections? The electoral bloc is expected to be a rather interesting and practical idea, especially because it is based on the logic that the resources should be not dispersed,” stated the activist.
The public debate “Starting position of political parties and potential independent candidates on alternative pro-European platform before the electoral year” is the 81st installment of the series of debates “Developing political culture by public debates” that are organized with support from the Hanns Seidel Foundation of Germany.
The next debate entitled “Starting position of political parties and potential independent candidates on unionist platform before an electoral year” will take place in the conference hall of IPN News Agency on November 24, starting at 2pm. This will involve representatives of the unionist dimension of the political landscape.
