After the first round of voting, we can say that there are problems related to the integrity of the electoral process and this is admitted by everyone, including by international observers. There are scandals related to the illegal financing of parties, monopolies in the mass media, illegal transportation of voters and these problems haven’t been solved for years. These irregularities should be document and included in the Central Election Commission’s report that will be submitted to the Constitutional Court for validating the elections, the standing expert of IPN’s project Igor Boțan stated in the public debate “First round of presidential elections 2020: lessons learned and lessons to be learned” that was staged by IPN.
He said the phenomenon of organized transportation of voters witnessed at the elections of February 2019 was ignored by the law enforcement agencies and by the Constitutional Court when validating the elections. There are now repeats that should be deal with before the runoff. “Things seem to be clear here: no one can prevent the citizens or a group of citizens from voting. But, if the observers and the authorities notice illegal transportation by small vehicles that run periodically, there is a problem,” stated Igor Boțan.
In another development, the expert noted the Republic of Moldova is divided according to particular criteria, such as ethnic-linguistic, geopolitical, integrationist and others. The political class is polarized. There are two poles – one around Igor Dodon and another one around Maia Sandu and their parties. The Republic of Moldova is a small state with modest potential and everyone understands that it cannot develop without being a party to the European community or the Eurasian community.
In the election campaign, the Eurasian dimension was represented by Igor Dodon and Violeta Ivanov, who together won 39% of the vote. The pro-European dimension was represented by Maia Sandu, Andrei Năstase and Tudor Deliu, who together gained 42% of the ballot. The unionist dimension was represented by Dorin Chirtoacă and Octavian Țîcu, who together won 3% of the vote. The non-system dimension was represented by Renato Usatyi, with 17% of the vote. There are thus 39% pro-Eurasian voters, 45% pro-European, Euro-unionist voters and 17% voters who chose the nonconformist, non-system option. According to experts in sociology, one third of these 17% are for the European integration, another one third are for the Eurasian integration, while the rest are undecided.
According to Igor Boțan, the electoral struggle has sense and depends on the way in which the two teams mobilize. The unknown is now Renato Usatyi who can take sides with a particular candidate. “As far as I understood, he called on the voters who supported him not to vote one candidate or another, but to vote an option that he called “the one who ensures the dissolution of Parliament and the organization of snap parliamentary elections” and this will enjoy the personal support of Renato Usatyi, not necessarily of all his supporters.
The public debate “First round of presidential elections 2020: lessons learned and lessons to be learned” was the 158th installment of the series “Developing political culture through public debates” that is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
