Under the law, the President cannot temporarily leave office for the period of the election campaign, but every effort will be made to prevent assertions that the position is used for electoral purposes, assured President Maia Sandu, a potential candidate for a new term in office. The official avoided saying whether she will participate in electoral debates or not, noting that many politicians entered the competition in order to turn the campaign and debates into a show of bad taste, IPN reports.
Maia Sandu explained that, according to the law, she cannot leave the office of President of the Republic of Moldova during the campaign, but she will clearly delimit electoral activities from activities carried out as head of state.
“During the campaign, for campaign activities, I will use a car other than the company car. I will limit the public events that can be interpreted as actions used for electoral purposes, i.e. meetings, official visits. When the campaign starts, the rules change. Even if the legislation does not clearly specify the rules, we will take all the measures of common sense so that there are no accusations. The team that will work with me will be suspended from their positions because in their case this is allowed by law. I will make every effort so that there are no conflicts or interpretations that I am trying to use the position for campaign purposes,” Maia Sandu stated in the program “In Depth” on ProTV Chisinau channel.
The head of state explained that given that the goal of many contenders for the office of President is to discredit these elections, there is a risk that the electoral debates will turn into a show of bad taste. A final decision as to whether she will take part in televised debates or not has not been made yet.
“The debates are a useful element of democracy when those who participate in these debates want to debate concrete topics in a civilized way. When particular candidates turn these debates into a show of bad taste, then this does not really help citizens to form an opinion. Unfortunately, I think we have a number of candidates in this campaign who pursue other goals and who want to turn the campaign and the debates into a show of bad taste. I did not say that I will not take part. We will see how things develop. We will see who the debates will involve. The citizens see who is running and what these had done in the past, who supports them and who finances them, whose interests they promote. In these elections, there are several candidates who are not authentic and who are guided from a single source, who are here not to have a democratic process, but to turn the discussions into ridiculous things,” said the incumbent President.
Maia Sandu was nominated by the Party of Action and Solidarity as a potential candidate for the office of President. To be registered as an election contestant, Maia Sandu’s initiative group must collect at least 15,000 signatures from at least half of the country’s administrative-territorial units.
