Parliamentary elections’ effects on CMC

The April 5 legislative elections affected the Chisinau Municipal Council (CMC) as well. Five out of the 51 councilors chose to be MPs during the next four years. Thus, Mihai Ghimpu, Corina Fusu, Vadim Cojocaru and Gheorghe Brega of the Liberal Party (PL) will be replaced by the persons that come next on the party’s list, while Alexandru Tanase, who had been the leader of the faction of the Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova (PLDM) until recently, will be substituted by the next person on the electoral list of the Democratic Party (PD), as Tanase entered the CMC as representative of the PD. [New and old persons] Some councilors describe the situation created after April 5 as sad, while others – optimistic. The fact that the composition of the Council will undergo changes is a key element. “This thing will slightly misbalance the situation in the CMC, says [the councilor of Moldova Noastra Alliance (AMN), Oleg Cernei], and will most probably bring a change in the characteristics of the discussions and approaches, considers [Alexandru Tanase of the PLDM]. “There will be new people that have another approach to politics,” Tanase explains. On the other hand, [the president of the Liberal Party Mihai Ghimpu], who will also be replaced, says that “he fully trusts the representatives of the PL,” suggesting that they will continue to promote the Liberals’ policy. Yet, the largest municipal faction, of the Communist Party of Moldova (PCRM), “expect to see the attitude of the “newcomers” in order to make conclusions about the developments in the local legislative body, said [councilor Alexandru Roman of the PCRM]. [Scenarios for a new coalition?] All the factions in the CMC become optimistic when they speak about the latest developments in the Social-Democratic faction. Until the end of March, the faction of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) in the CMC was composed of 5 councilors. The current optimism of the other factions is now fueled by the fact that the key player of the PSD in the Council, Eduard Musuc, who is said to have been a mediator in the talks with the administration of Moldova, was discharged from the party as he allegedly played the game of the Communists during the election campaign. He announced he will be unaffiliated, but it is known that he is on better terms with the PCRM than with the Liberals. The faction became smaller after Loretta Handrabura left the PSD and joined the Liberal-Democrats. After the leader of the faction Emil Gutu was arrested on suspicion he took bribe, the existence of the PSD is valid only theoretically. Practically speaking, the faction now includes only two persons. Under such circumstances, everything depends on the PSD councilors, say representatives of the municipal factions. “The PSD paid a high price for the coalition with the Communists and did not pass the election threshold,” said Alexandru Tanase. He voiced hope that “they (the Social-Democrats in the CMC – e.n.) have learnt the lesson and will adopt a different strategy in the future. Yet, Tanase remains only with the hope because he says he does not have proofs or arguments that the PSD would choose to become again part of the Democratic coalition. Mihai Ghimpu says that there are chances to form a new Democratic majority, but only if the members of the PSD “realize what happens when they obey Musuc”. There is also Oazu Nantoi (unaffiliated councilor who entered the CMC on the PD list), Mihai Severovan (unaffiliated councilor who entered the Council as representative of the PNL) and another member of the PD that we hope will be with us, Ghimpu said. The PCRM also invited the PSD councilors to join a new coalition. “We count on the PSD and the PPCD,” stressed the Communist councilor Alexandru Roman, saying yet that he is not sure about the PD councilor and it was hard for him to make forecasts. Oleg Cernei is more skeptical. He considers that after the PSD faction dissolved, they cannot negotiate with it. The AMN councilor also says that no coalition is yet in view and this arouses uncertainty. However, he says, “the senior authorities of the country exert pressure on some of the municipal councilors that hold posts in certain state institutions, like Vasile Parasca (PSD), Victor Savin (AMN) or Mihail Magdei (AMN), in order to make them take part in the formation of a majority by blackmail and constraint.” [The former chairman of the Council Eduard Musuc] avoided making predictions, saying that the situation will become clearer in a month. “We are in a post-electoral period. The administrative bodies are being created. Things still can change,” he said. [Solution: to act outside politics?] The elections polarized the society and led to its radicalization in two trends: Liberal on the right and Communist on the left, considers Oleg Cernei. Moreover, he says, the CMC also suffers from politicization and if this syndrome is allowed to develop, all the subdivisions of the Council will become politicized because the CMC decides on the funding for them. The administration is also politicized, considers the Liberal-Democrat Alexandru Tanase, who says that at least that pole that represents the legislative power in the CMC should prove wisdom and have balanced relations both with the local and the central executive powers. Unaffiliated councilor Eduard Musuc believes in the power of the City Hall. “In the activity of the CMC as legislative body, much depends on the attitude of the City Hall and the mayor general. If the emphasis is switched to the local problems, I don’t think we will have problems as until present, as the two bodies were in conflicting relations,” says Musuc, adding that he tried for many times to cooperate with the local executive body, “but the mayor polarized the situation, is not present in the City Hall and deals only with politics at local, national and international levels.” The Communist councilor Alexandru Roman considers that the mayor and the councilors that participated in the election campaign for the parliamentary elections from the very beginning brought the politics into the administration of the municipality of Chisinau. Since then, the meetings of the CMC have been inefficient, while the councilors that entered the Parliament focus on group ambitions, he says. Alexandru Roman thinks that in order to cooperate, the legislative body and the executive body must get along. But he also says that the communication could be more difficult owing to “the mayor’s statements and actions with political character.” For his part, [mayor Dorin Chirtoaca] denies that he politicizes the things in the City Hall and says that he spends all the day long trying to solve a part of the problems faced by the city. “No matter what we do at the City Hall to improve the situation in the city, the CMC should also work according to certain rules and there should be a majority. Now we are trying to form a new majority so that we could solve the local problems,” Dorin Chirtoaca said, adding that they will analyze the situation and will accept to talk with all the colleagues, except those from the PCRM and the PPCD.