Election platforms of the candidates for Chisinau mayor are only declarations for an immature electorate. Analysis by Info-Prim Neo

The key task of the candidates for the post of mayor of the Chisinau municipality is how to solve the multitude of problems confronting the capital, given that the municipal budget by the end of the tenure of the future mayor (year 2011) could be about 3 billion lei at best (the figure for this year is about 1.5 billion lei). The largest part of this money goes for education. This conclusion is contained in the analysis of the election platforms of the candidates for Chisinau mayor made by economic analyst Veaceslav Ionita at the request of Info-Prim Neo News Agency. According to Ionita, apparently all the election programs are alike, even if they have a different language, tonality and range of subjects. As a rule, the electoral opponents center on 10 to 30 areas, where they identify about 50 principal problems. [“I want, but I cannot…”] All the promises contained in the election platforms can be divided into three categories. 1. The first includes the areas that are not within the competence of the local public administration and represent only aberrant declarations. The candidates use them for the simple reason that they understand that a weak electorate as ours believe them. The promises to raise the pensions are the aberrant declarations that top the list, as this is impossible and is not within the competence of the local public authorities. Some of the candidates, who are subtler, substitute the term ‘pensions’ with ‘allowances’. Others promise frankly that they will increase the pensions by 100 lei, but this means about 150 million lei yearly. The baldest speak about the doubling of pensions, which means about 800-900 million lei each year or another budget of the capital, except the education costs. There are even candidates that promise pensions of over 1,000 lei... The declaration regarding the 20% rise in the salaries of budgetary workers also heads the list of promises. This means approximately 200 million lei annually. Or the increase in the minimum salary, which is an exclusive duty of the government.... The subject about the creation of workplaces forms part of almost all the electoral discourses. The range of promises is rather wide in this case too: from the facilitation of access to the Chisinau market of foreign investors to generous employment offers. The stake is simple again: not all the voters know that the investors negotiate with the Executive and the creation of a new workplace costs about 300,000 –400,000 lei each year. The promises about the improvement of the healthcare system also take a leading position. But this is again not within the competence of the local public administration. 2. Another package of declarations concerns the problems that do not need financial resources to be solved, but which also worry the voter – the eradication of corruption and bureaucracy in the City Hall, assurance of transparence or creation of consultancy councils for citizens. 3. The third group includes the social problems that need financial resources. Only some of the candidates propose concrete solutions for these problems, but the others continue to practice exercises of electoral rhetoric. The housing question takes the lead in the list of problems tackled by the candidates. The next issues are the wastewater treatment station, which suffocates half of the capital in summer, and the roads and transport – also “painful” issues for the Chisinau residents. According to Ionita, the housing issue became sensitive in the past 2-3 years. That is why each candidate tried to identify a solution to it in his election platform. As a rule yet, all they say “what” and “how much”: an elitist small town, apartments at competitive prices: social dwelling, apartments for young families, 4,000 apartments for the poor etc. Nobody says yet “how” and what real mechanisms for developing this sector exist. There are such original ideas as to build houses for vagabonds, to equip the public places with access rails for the people with disabilities. There are no terms and concrete possibilities as regards the wastewater treatment facility either. This shows that the candidates have intentions but no projects. The road repair and improvement of urban public transport witness the same situation. Some candidates say they will repair 40 streets or 500,000 square meters of road each year. They will renew the urban trolleybus and bus fleets, but none of them specifies how they will do this, except a candidate who says that he “will attract private capital to improve the situation in public transport.” “How?” It is not known yet. [“A deja vu feeling”] One of the deductions of the analyst is that candidates’ discourses look alike not only as regards the promises but also the shortcomings. Almost all the candidates do not pay enough attention to students, who represent about 120,000 voters, and to the development of the suburbs, which contribute about 100,000 voters. The conclusion reached by the analyst Veaceslav Ionita after examining the electoral programs of the candidates for mayor of Chisinau is sad: there are no platforms that would convince the electorate that a problem or another can be solved in a certain way. All the programs are declarative, are designed for an immature electorate and a society that cannot solve its problems, is confused and dreams of ideal solutions offered by ideal candidates.