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Ion Tăbârță: We should learn from Belarus to avoid personalized models


https://www.ipn.md/index.php/en/ion-tabarta-we-should-learn-from-belarus-to-avoid-personalized-8004_1076211.html

From the situation created in Belarus after the August 9 presidential elections, the Moldovans should learn not to follow personalized models. One of the problems of Belarus, besides the positive aspects that should be recognized, is related to the personalization of power and the building of the vertical of power around a person who will sooner or later create power transfer problems, international relations expert Ion Tăbârță stated in IPN’s public debate “Situation in Belarus: mutual influences with world”.

Ion Tăbârță noted that in history there were few leaders who, managing authoritarian states, left voluntarily. This personalized, presidential model to which Moldova’s incumbent President also tends is dangerous. “We must admit that our leaders had such a tendency to build the vertical of power. President Voronin built the vertical of power through the agency of the ruling party, which then dominated the political arena in the Republic of Moldova. There were also others. At this moment, President Dodon assumed more powers than the Government,” noted the expert.

According to him, the Republic of Moldova should follow the path of institutional development till the end. “Even if the elections in Moldova are not falsified, there will nevertheless be that tendency for the vote to be influenced, including by administrative tools. ”Any use of administrative instruments can incline the balance to a direction that will not represent the real opinion of voters in the Republic of Moldova.”

Ion Tăbârță considers the protests in the Republic of Belarus are due to the crisis related to the absence of a democratic society development model. The happenings in Belarus are closer to the events that happened in Moldova in 2009, which were then called “Twitter revolution”. In Belarus, it is rather “a revolution of the Telegram channels”. However, in Moldova those Twitter revolutions had the geopolitical component. Society in Belarus reached a moment when the evolution of the administration didn’t synchronize with the evolution of society. Despite all his departures, Alexandr Lukashenko managed to ensure a less painful transition in Belarus, from the Soviet period to the post-Soviet period, but he didn’t feel the moment when to liberalize the regime, to move towards democratization and changes needed by society.

The public debate “Situation in Belarus: mutual influences with world” was the 151st installment of the series of debates “Developing political culture through public debates” that are supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation.