Of the 11 candidates who managed to collect the necessary signatures from voters, only one will take over the management of the country for the next four years. The decision will be taken at the polls on October 20. IPN News Agency provides a comprehensive description of each presidential election candidate, including their professional and personal background, held positions, declared income and property, as well as their promises for the future of the Republic of Moldova. Know the candidates, choose responsibly!
Renato Usatyi was nominated for the position of head of state by the Political Party “Our Party”, which he leads.
He was born on November 4, 1978 in Fălești town. He graduated from the Faculty of Foreign Languages of “Alecu Russo” State University of Balti. During different periods, he worked in production companies in the country and abroad. Since February 2015, he has held the post of chairman of the Political Party “Our Party”.
In the local elections of June 2015, he won a term as mayor general of Balti municipality, by the first round of voting, with over 73% of the ballot. Four years later, in October 2019, he won a new term by the first round of voting, with almost 62% of the poll.
In the 2020 presidential election, he finished third. At that time, almost 228,000 citizens voted for Renato Usatyi, which is 16.9% of the vote. In the July 2021 parliamentary election, the electoral bloc he formed won 4.1% of the ballot, below the threshold for entering Parliament, which is of 7% for blocs.
In September 2021, Renato Usatyi announced his resignation from the position of mayor of Balti for the reason that he was dissatisfied with the result achieved by “Renato Usatyi” Bloc in the northern capital of the country in the snap parliamentary elections.
For 2023, the candidate declared a number of lots of land, most of which were acquired in 2011 and 2017. Their value is indicated in Russian rubles and ranges from 236,000 to 8.3 million Russian rubles. The value of several residential houses and other real estate assets is also declared in Russian rubles. The most expensive declared house is worth an estimated 4.6 million Russian rubles. Also, real estate assets worth 86,000 to 1.4 million Moldovan lei are indicated. Renato Usatyi owns several transport units and the most expensive of these has a declared value of 1.8 million lei.
In the property declaration, he also indicated three Breguet watches to the total value of €250,000. During the past year, he purchased tourism and recreational services worth €17,000, contracted medical and health maintenance services in Germany worth €19,000, used real estate rental services worth 120,000 lei.
Renato Usatyi said that he entered the presidential election race for the purpose of “destroying the system that has been maintained for 33 years and that has blocked the development of the country and the wellbeing of citizens.” The transformation of the country into a presidential republic is one of the main aspects of his electoral program. The program provides for the introduction of the position of vice president, which will be occupied by the person who will rank second in the presidential election.
The politician aims to cause snap parliamentary elections and form a government of professionals whom he would select from all parties, including extraparliamentary ones.
To ensure economic development, Usatyi proposes implementing the national plan for the industrialization of Moldova. For better management of problems in the field of agriculture, he suggests that farmers should appoint the presidential adviser on agricultural issues, the minister of agriculture and the secretaries of state.
In the social sector, the candidate proposes introducing in the Constitution the obligation to index the pension at least to the inflation rate for the previous year. To encourage the birth rate, the childbirth allowance will be increased to 200,000 lei.
To support education and research, Renato Usatyi aims to restore the previous model of organization and administration of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova, and also to reopen the Agrarian University. Increased attention, he says, will be paid to the restoration of vocational-technical education for training qualified specialists.
According to his manifesto, the Moldovans in the diaspora will be able to perform cash transactions of up to €200,000 when purchasing movable and immovable property. On parcels with goods in the amount of up to €500 euros, sent by citizens from the diaspora, no taxes will be charged.
Renato Usatyi is under No. 3 on the ballot.