Press-Release
on the organization of the debate “Stake of candidates vs. stake of voters, first round”. Developing Political Culture through Public Debates”. Public debates series held by the news agency IPN in its conference room with the support of the German Foundation “Hanns Seidel”
Held on 17 February 2020, Debate No.125 brought together: the Democratic Party‘s candidate Ion Mereuță; Vitalie Balinschi, the Shor Party’s candidate and Vladimir Bolea, the representative of the Action and Solidarity Party’s candidate Olesea Stamate.
The Democratic Party‘s candidate Ion Mereuță said the seat of MP in this constituency in the elections of February 2019 was won by Democratic candidate Alexandru Botnari and it would be normal for this seat to belong again to the Democratic parliamentary group. “In Hâncești district, there are a lot of persons who deserve running for MP in single-member constituency No. 38 Hâncești. But the National Political Council of the Democratic Party, on the initiative of the Executive Bureau of the PDM’s Hâncești District Organization, decided to field me,” he stated.
According to the candidate, his mates from the PDM took into account his experience as a mayor of Leușeni commune and as a customs servant in the central public administration. During the past four years, he served as the Government’s representative at the local level and knows very well the local problems and many of these were solved with his involvement. “I think the voters want a local MP who would be able to daily come into contact with the voters and not only. If I win, I will be in direct touch with the local public authorities of the first and second levels so that we solve the local problems,” noted Ion Mereuță.
Vitalie Balinschi, the Shor Party’s candidate, said the party that fielded him indeed wants to change people’s lives. By taking part in these elections, the party wants to offer the voters in this constituency the possibility of changing their life. “During the Independence Years of the Republic of Moldova, the politicians came and promised, but, regrettably, none of them did what they promised in election campaigns. We are a political force that is different from the others – we fulfill our promises. This is evident and visible. Everyone can see what was done in the municipality of Orhei, in Orhei district and how the life of people in these localities changed,” he stated.
According to the candidate, now the party wants Hâncești to become the third constituency that will be represented by the Shor Party in Parliament. The projects that were already implemented in Orhei and in the communities where they won the local elections would be implemented also in Hâncești. “The problems faced in Hâncești are the same as those encountered all over Moldova and we know how to deal with them. We know the people in localities experience many problems. I travelled to settlements and saw them. The people want changes, lit streets, good roads, high-quality services provided by the local and central public authorities. If we win the seat of MP, we will implement the changes we made in Orhei also in Hâncești,” stated Vitalie Balinschi.
Vladimir Bolea, the representative of the Action and Solidarity Party’s candidate Olesea Stamate, said that a complete lack of progress in the socioeconomic development of the country has been witnessed in Moldova since 1991. “Surely, the 25 mayor’s offices in single-member constituency No. 38 face the same problems. There is the project to build the water supply system in ten villages situated on the bank of the Prut, which was implemented in proportion of 50%. About 25 million lei is yet needed to finish the project. It is very important for the citizens of this district to have drinking water and also irrigation as we cannot speak about high-value agriculture without irrigation,” he stated.
According to Vladimir Bolea, among the problems is also the lack of street lighting, roads and transport. These problems at the beginning generated a big wave of migration. Now this district faces such serious problems as depopulation, low birth rate and lack of prospects. “Missis Stamate, as an MP, will be supported by a very powerful team consisting of 14 MPs. She definitely comes with experience in bringing European projects as the Government of Maia Sandu launched the campaign for the European village. You know that two weeks ago the European Union gave the go-ahead to this project and it will be implemented directly for each village. Surely, Missis Stamate will cooperate with each of the mayor’s offices so as to design and implement projects to attract investments to our localities, depending on the identified problems,” stated Vladimir Bolea.
The candidate of the Party of Socialists Ștefan Gațcan was also invited to the debate, but he invoked emergency professional reasons that prevented him from coming. On February 18, IPN stages a new round of debates that will feature the UNION Electoral Bloc’s candidate Dorin Chirtoacă, independent candidate Grigore Cobzac, and the Liberal Democratic Party’s candidate Anatolie Postolachi.
The debate “Stake of candidates vs. stake of voters” that involved candidates for MP in constituency No. 38 Hâncești, first round, was the 125th installment of the series of debates “Developing political culture through public debates” that is supported by the German foundation “Hanns Seidel”.
The Agency published 4 news stories on the debate (see the English version of www.ipn.md): on 17.02.20, „Candidates of PDM, PAS and Shor Party about their stake and stake of voters in Hâncești. IPN debate” - https://www.ipn.md/en/candidates-of-pdm-pas-and-shor-party-about-their-stake-8004_1071556.html; „Ion Mereuță: Voters want to be represented in Parliament by a local” - https://www.ipn.md/en/ion-mereuta-voters-want-to-be-represented-in-parliament-by-8004_1071559.html; „Vladimir Bolea: Olesea Stamate will attract European projects and will struggle against abuses of central power” -https://www.ipn.md/en/vladimir-bolea-olesea-stamate-will-attract-european-projects-and-will-8004_1071560.html; „Vitalie Balinschi: We offer voters in constituency No. 38 chance to change their life” - https://www.ipn.md/en/vitalie-balinschi-we-offer-voters-in-constituency-no-38-chance-8004_1071561.html.
IPN promoted the debate before and after the event, in particular the ensuing news stories, using all the available channels, including social networks. Confirmatory materials of deliverables, as well as a media coverage dossier are attached.
Valeriu Vasilica, director of IPN