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| Veaceslav Craciun | |
The political processes in Moldova are animated and not only in Chisinau, but also at the local level, especially in Gagauzia. Paradoxically, even if they have political leaders and well-shaped regional requirements, the people of Gagauzia do not have local parties that would promote their interests. Chisinau has its own justifications for such a state of affairs, related to the attempts to dismember the country. On the other hand, central authorities’ suspicions are often exaggerated and the experience of other countries shows the Moldovan legislation concerning political parties needs to be liberalized Ultimately, could the regional political forces not only aggravate and fragment the political system of Moldova, but also generate a consolidation potential? The executive director of the Association for Participatory Democracy ADEPT Igor Boțan tried to answer this question in the study “Regional parties and their evolution in the Republic of Moldova” that was presented in Chisinau on November 28.
At origins of Moldovan democracy
Igor Boțan presented his new work in a roundtable meeting coordinated by the Comrat-based nongovernmental organization “Piligrim-Demo”. The event was staged as part of the project “Development of Civil Society in Gagauz-Yeri” that is implemented by a consortium consisting of Soros Foundation Moldova, the Center “Contact” and the NGO “Piligrim-Demo”, with financial support from the Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Moldova.
As Igor Boțan noted, the national legislation does not ban regional parties, but the impossibility of their existence is determined by the harsh registration conditions. For example, for a new party to be registered, this should have at least 4,000 members from at least half of the country’s districts and by at least 120 members from each of these districts.
The legislation of the Republic of Moldova in the field of political parties was modified for many times and every time the conditions were made harsher. At the origins of Moldovan democracy, the legal requirements were rather mild. Therefore, the regional parties are for us not an abstract vision, but a real experience related to the functioning of the multiparty system .
It should be noted that the local political organization “Gagauz Halkî” was one of the first parties recognized by the Soviet Moldovan authorities after the Communist Party of the Soviet Union lost its political monopoly. This was registered on October 26, 1989 and pleaded for the autonomy of the southern Moldovan localities populated by Gagauz people. When there were political tensions between Comrat and Chisinau, namely “Gagauz Halkî” popularized the idea of convening the congress of deputies of all levels, which adopted the declaration on freedom and independence of the Gagauz people from the Republic of Moldova. In response to such actions, the Government of the Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic adopted a decision on the dissolution of “Gagauz Halkî”.
The next attempts made by the regional forces to obtain legalization were made after the declaration of the independence of the Republic of Moldova. In 1993, the Ministry of Justice registered the People’s Party of Gagauzia, while in 1995 the People’s Party “Vatan” (Motherland). But both of the parties failed to achieve results in Gagauzia or in the national election campaigns. In the elections for the People’s Assembly of Gagauzia in 1995, two regional parties managed to bring only 6 of the 35 deputies into the regional legislative body. The participation in national campaigns was marked only by the joining by “Vatan”, in 1998, of the electoral bloc “Socialist Unity” that won 1.83% of the vote in the parliamentary elections.
In 1998, the Law on Parties was supplemented with the obligation to have 5,000 members and representative offices in half of the districts. As a result, two Gagauz parties didn’t meet the requirements for being registered. But the poor result in elections and the incapacity to meet the legal requirements point rather to the inability of concrete political projects than to the Gagauz people’s distrust in the regional political forces.
Under the mask of NGOs
After the legislation was toughened up and obstacles to founding regional parties were placed, the local political forces chose another method of taking part in the political life of the region and the country. At the local level, the problem was solved by disguising political forces as NGOs. This way, there were created the movements “United Gagauzia” and “New Gagauzia”. These public organizations, contrary to their statutory principles, definitely pursued political goals related to the status of the Autonomous Unit of Gagauzia. In the period of national elections, both of the organizations cooperated with national parties. In both of the cases, the political experience gained by the political elites can be considered a success, given the considerable influence on the electoral preferences of locals.
Such a state of affairs generally suit the local political leaders. But some of the representatives of civil society consider this is unacceptable. Among those who believe the politicization of civil society is a problem is the executive director of “Piligrim-Demo” Mihail Sirkeli. According to him, the main shortcoming is the fact that the political activity of the public associations discredits the public sector and prevents the locals from clearly understanding what the public associations are and what their propose is.
Experience of European Union and CSI
Given the current state of affairs, the main recommendation of Igor Boțan is to liberalize the national legislation. When comparing the national experience with the European one, it becomes clear that the national requirements concerning the activity of parties are really harsher. The study says that 9 of the 28 EU member states lack special laws on the activity of parties. In Belgium, Ireland, Denmark and other countries, the informal associations of people that register as legal entities for taking part in election campaigns are considered parties. In some of the cases, the presentation of a particular number of signatures put by people, in accordance with the electoral legislation, are required for the purpose and this is more a formality than a serious barrier.
There is also another category of countries in the EU, such as Germany, Greece and Spain, which have laws on parties, but these do not stipulate requirements concerning the number of members. In the third category, Igor Boțan included such countries as Romania, Hungary, Slovenia and Latvia, where a rather low number of signatures is required for registering parties. For example, to register a party in Romania, this can have only three members . The fourth category that includes the Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania and Poland, at least 1,000 members are required for founding a party. Bulgaria, Finland, Slovakia and Portugal have the harshest rules for registering a party owing to the large number of necessary signatures (most of all in Slovakia, 10,000). Moreover, the regional parties in Portugal are banned openly.
Moldova’s positions cannot be called leading even in the post-Soviet area. Kirgizstan has the mildest law on parties and no obstacles to registering parties exist there. The rules in Azerbaijan, Georgia and Belarus are relatively simple and only 1,000 signatures for registering a party are required there and there are no territorial requirements. The conditions in Russia, Armenia and Tajikistan are slightly stricter. The number of party members there is minimal, but the party should have representative offices in half or one third (Armenia) of regions. The expert added Moldova to the fourth category, alongside Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. In these countries, the party registration requirements are rather severe both as regards the number of members and of local representative offices.
Finally, Turkmenistan, from the viewpoint of regional parties, is a Portugal of the post-Soviet are as it directly banns the activity of such parties.
Interdependence of interests
The relaxation of legal requirements would enable the leaders in Gagauzia to register their political projects. What goal they pursue is another issue as registration is made not for the sake of registration. In the regional campaigns prior to the elections to choose the Governor or the People’s Assembly of Gagauzia, it would be more logical to allow local forces to take part in elections in the form of regional parties without posing as NGOs. As regards the national elections, despite the negative experience of Chisinau as regards “Gagauz Halkî”, the reformation of the system of parties in the Republic of Moldova by legalizing regional parties has a positive potential as well.
There is an interdependence between the interests of national and local political forces. Usually, this can make the regional parties support the national parties in forming a parliamentary majority in exchange for the subsequent solving of issuers related to the development of local communities, starting with fiscal autonomy and ending with language-related problems. As a result, the Gagauz leaders would be ready to cooperate when the regional interests can be achieved with the help of political and national resources. The combination of the regional interests with the national ones would consolidate rather than disintegrate the political system.
“Lower-level wish”
There is one more solid argument in favor of the legal existence of regional parties. According to the executive director of ADEPT, when the conflict on the left side of the Nistru is solved, the political parties of the region will have to find a place in the party system of the unified state. Therefore, the creation of the given framework concerning the functioning of regional parties is inevitable from this viewpoint too, stated Igor Boțan.
Earlier, Gagauzia had a local law on regional parties. This was repealed by the People’s Assembly of Gagauzia. It is now highly improbable that the adoption of a new such law would solve the problem as this would be cancelled at the request of the State Chancellery. That’s why the key could be found in the national legislation. If we take Igor Boțan’s recommendation concerning the liberalization of the legal framework into account, a “lower-level wish” will be suitable. The authorities of Gagauz-Yeri should formulate concrete proposals regarding the functioning of regional parties. If this issue is of real interest to Comrat, it will be included in the agenda of all the available platforms.
IPN publishes in the Op-Ed rubric opinion pieces submitted by authors not affiliated with our editorial board. The opinions expressed in these articles do not necessarily coincide with the opinions of our editorial board.
IPN note:
According to the information portal “Ruskii mir”, the scientific conference “World War I in the past of southern Bessarabia”, held to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I of 1914 – 1918, was organized by the Consultancy and Information Center “Dialog” in cooperation with the Scientific Society of Bulgarians in the Republic of Moldova within the project “Together we Restore Memory” that is implemented in Gagauzia and Taraclia district with support from the Foundation “Russkii mir”.