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Briefness first and foremost - January 30, 2019 IPN digest


https://www.ipn.md/index.php/en/briefness-first-and-foremost-january-30-2019-ipn-digest-7978_1046737.html

In connection with a so-called decision by Tiraspol providing that Varnița village is temporarily under the Republic of Moldova’s control and the relevant duties are carried out by the self-styled local bodies of Proteagailovca village, the Prime Minister asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration to request the representatives of the OSCE, Russia, Ukraine, the EU and the U.S. to use the potential of the “5+2” format talks to stop the effects of this provocative action. Concomitantly, there will be examined the opportunity of discussing the given subject in the next meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna.

The state will purchase and will then sell the newly issued shares of Moldindconbank. According to the authorities, the decision will contribute to maintaining the stability of the bank, will facilitate the transaction with potential buyers and will stimulate the banking system reform. The money allocated by the Government will be recovered from the investor. The European company DOVERIE UNITED HOLDING AD recently expressed its interest in purchasing the shares of Moldindconbank, but the auction is open to other investors too.

As of February 1, 2019, the citizens will benefit from a number of free medicines. The relevant decision was published in the Official Gazette on January 29. “I’m glad that practically each person in the Republic of Moldova will benefit from free medicines, namely about 148 international common names of drugs.,” Prime Minister Pavel Filip stated in the January 30 meeting of the Cabinet.

Denis Valac, vice director of the National Health Insurance Company (CNAM), said all the contracted drugstores will be obliged to have at least one product that can be offered free in the store. The druggists will be obliged to offer medicines provided free to patients. If the patient refuses that drug, this will be informed about other drugs.

The drugstores are obligated to publish the list of medicines provided free in a visible place so that the patient could find the commercial name of the compensated medicine on the list. If the requested medicine is not in the store,  the drugstores will have to offer this to the patient within 72 hours. The citizens who will not receive compensated drugs on time can call on 0800 99999.

The Moldovan citizens who are abroad in the parliamentary elections of February 24 will not be able to vote in the parliamentary elections of February 24 based on expired identity cards and passports. In his application, ombudsman Mihail Cotorobai said the ban on voting abroad based on expired identity cards or passports is contrary to the Constitution. According to him, the ban represents differentiated treatment in relation to the citizens who vote in the country, who can vote based on identification papers, including temporary ones. Such differentiated treatment significantly affects the electoral rights of the citizens from the diaspora and violates their right to elect.

The Constitutional Court’s decision to class as inadmissible the application filed by ombudsman Mihail Cotorobai by which he asked to examine the constitutionality of the legal provisions that ban the Moldovans from the diaspora from voting with the identity card and expired identification papers reveals the use of double standards, stated expert in public policies Ștegan Gligor. He said that in 2016, when voting based on expired documents was allowed by a decision of the Constitutional Court, the government didn’t realize the impact that the diaspora can have in elections. According to him, it wasn’t even necessary to interpret the Constitution in this regard as the law does not say that the vote can be cast based on a valid or invalid passport, but stipulates only that a document is needed.

How the Shor Party and “Antimafie” Movement will fight corruption if they enter Parliament: the fight against corruption is the key point of the electoral program of the Shor Party for the upcoming parliamentary elections, said the party’s representative Marina Tauber.

“We are the only example when the party and its leader indeed struggle corruption,” stated Marina Tauber.

In the same electoral debate on TVR Moldova channel, the representative of “Antimafie” Party Daniela Bodrug said they want to clear the judicial system and the prosecution service so that these become an instrument for fighting corruption at institutions first of all. Political will is needed to achieve this objective.

Even if the election campaign prior to the parliamentary elections began on January 24, two weeks before this most of the media outlets started already to distribute electoral materials that included mainly accusations made by some of the politicians against others, shows the first mass media monitoring report for January 9-24 compiled by the Independent Journalism Center and the Association of Independent Press.

Facebook and Odnoklassniki are the social media platforms that are most often used by electoral competitors, with over 80% of these having a page or a group there. Another two platforms, Youtube and Instagram, are periodically used by about 60-80% of the runners in the parliamentary elections of February 24, shows a monitoring report compiled by the Youth Development for Innovation. The foundation examined ten parties that were registered or announced their intention to run.

Some 70% of the Moldovans are convinced they will take part in the parliamentary elections of February 24, 2019. 19% will probably vote, 6.6% are sure they will not vote, while 3.6% haven’t yet decided, shows an opinion poll carried out by the company Date Inteligente. Asked who they would vote for in the parliamentary elections in the national constituency, 32% of the respondents answered the PSRM, 20% the bloc ACUM, 16.1% the PDM, 4.3% the Shor Party. 14% of those polled do not know if they will take part, while 7.9% intend not to take part in elections.

In the public debate “Elections 2019: Please elect me MP because...”, which was the 101th installment of the series “Developing political culture through public debates” and was staged by IPN News Agency, ACUM, PCRM and PSRM argues why their candidates should be voted. The PDM was absent from the debate.

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