38 politicians form list of candidates for MP with integrity problems

Thirty-eight politicians who are candidates for MP on the lists of six political organizations cannot do not meet the moral integrity criteria formulated by the civil society. The list was drawn up by the Civic Initiative for a Clean Parliament. Most of the candidates (28) represent the Communists Party (PCRM), Info-Prim Neo reports. The information about the politicians was collected by experienced investigative journalists. It is a continuation of a similar action initiated in the campaign for the April 5 elections. “The access to information became worse after April 5 with the state institutions being less accessible,” Cornelia Cozonac, president of the Investigative Journalism Center, said at a news conference on July 21. She said that the Ministry of Information Development, the Central Election Commission, the State Registration Chamber and other institutions are now less willing to provide information. In addition, they offered only information about the candidates of the Opposition parties, not yet about the Communist candidates, Cozonac said. An interesting case was that the journalists asked for information about the PDM president Marian Lupu and obtained it, but before April 5 they could not get this information. The Communists Party did not accept to sign an agreement with the Civic Initiative for a Clean Parliament this time either. Under the agreement, if a party agrees to strike its dubious candidates off the list, the Initiative will not broadcast discrediting information about them, said Petru Macovei, executive director of the Independent Press Association. Most of the examined candidates were Communist as the Communists Party has governed the country for eight years and held public posts, representatives of the Initiative explained. The leader of the PCRM and outgoing president of Moldova Vladimir Voronin tops the list of candidates. One page and a half is dedicated to him in the Initiative’s booklet. It is said that Voronin owns a number of media outlets and that, as head of state, he was accused of deviations from the democratic norms after April 7. The press reported many facts about his son, Oleg, who developed prosperous businesses while his father has been in office. The brochure “Know Your Candidate” includes four candidates of the Moldova Noastra Alliance (AMN) – Veaceslav Platon, Alexandru Oleinic, Ion Guti and Vasile Pantea. During the previous campaign, the Liberal Party (PL) had no ‘problematic’ candidate, but now the party is represented by Stefan Uratu, president of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, who takes the 22nd position in the PL’s list. The list also contains two candidates of the PLDM – Vladimir Hotineanu and Simion Furdui. The new leader of the PDM Marian Lupu is accused of using administrative resources in the previous campaign and of using the post of Speaker that he held then to help his subordinates to purchase apartments, though they had homes at that moment. The PDM is also represented by the Valeriu Guma, while the PSD – by Ion Prisacaru. The brochure was issued in 100,000 copies that will be distributed all over the country by the seven NGOs that form part of the Civic Initiative for a Clean Parliament.