All the electoral contenders competing in the presidential elections of November 1 say that they want to be elected President. Besides the made promises, the candidates resort to all kinds of practices so as to appear more convincing before the voters and these put the stamp “Voted” against their names on the ballot. IPN News Agency contacted a number of experts and asked them to analyze the behavior of the eight aspirants for the office of President, in the order in which they were registered, and the actions to which they resort to build a favorable image: No. 6 Maia Sandu, 4, the candidate of the Party of Action and Solidarity.
Political commentator Ion Tăbârță said Maia Sandu reached a particular dose of political maturity as a political project and as a politician. She is probably at her peak now, at least at the moment, at the top of her political career. She can now strengthen her position if she succeeds in winning office. From this viewpoint, if she manages to beat Igor Dodon, her project will become viable for a period and will not be a project that appeared in a particular political context in the Republic of Moldova.
If she suffers a defeat, it will be rather hard for her to resist the media attacks from the political left and, particularly, from the right. Reference will be made to the fact that she is the politician who lost twice to Igor Dodon. She, as a politician, is now close to the moment of truth. We will see what happens. We must admit that she has good chances to score a nice victory. She is a real politician with real chances of winning.
The PAS leader started her campaign in a well-prepared way and such a move is clear as she represents the more elevated, more informed pro-European voters, including a part of the pro-Romanian voters who are not covered by the two existing unionist projects. Maia Sandu should widen her pool of voters, aiming more to the left, and should come with more messages.
If we analyze how they voted until now in the Republic of Moldova, we see that the voters of the left were always greater in number than the voters of the right, who were rather of “a higher quality”. She should definitely make this move with messages intended for the political center or even the left so as to attract more voters. If she comes with messages aimed at particular segments of voters, she risks losing to Igor Dodon again.
“WatchDog.MD” expert Valeriu Pașa stated that Maia Sandu starts from pole-position. She has the greatest chances of reaching the runoffs together with Igor Dodon. So, her main goal in the current campaign, for the first round, is to avoid excessive division, conflicts with other candidates of the right so as not to distance these voters in the runoffs. She does this by her entire narrative.
Her campaign centers on the awakening of hopes for taking the voters to the polls. She uses the positive baggage she obtained when serving as Prime Minister. She has to defend herself from attacks, especially those coming from the partners of the right and also from the left, from the same Igor Dodon. Her goal is to reach the runoffs with a minimum loss of image so as to later address if not her opponents from the right at least the voters of these. If these vote, they can secure her victory in the runoffs.
Media expert Aneta Gonța said that Maia Sandu undoubtedly benefits from important media attention, she being the candidate with the biggest chances of going through to the runoffs together with Igor Dodon. The candidate seems natural and is confident that this will happen. Therefore, she aims the messages transmitted through the press primarily at one opponent. For their part, the media outlets that openly support Igor Dodon aim their criticism and attacks at Maia Sandu, she being discredited and insulted without being offered the right of reply.
The PAS candidate reached an absolute record in terms of the unfavorable light in which she is presented on a number of TV channels and online publications that are directly or indirectly affiliated to the independent candidate supported by the PSRM, being mentioned not only in news items, but also in comments and opinion articles that are evidently unfavorable. These are not quantitatively balanced with massive and, eminently, positive support from other media outlets, but the neutral to positive presentations of the candidate can be perceived to a greater or lesser extent. Maia Sandu in this campaign adopted an attitude that is slightly different from her attitude four years ago, as regards her appearances in the media, saying she will take part in debates only together with Igor Dodon.
In particular cases, Maia Sandu sent her representatives to such programs or even went herself, knowing that Igor Dodon will not come, but probably hoping that this could change his mind. These appearances could ensure an image credit for her.
IPN
