Press Release
on the organization of the debate “Elections 2019: Please elect me MP because…”   “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 31 January 2019, Debate 102 brought together:

- Marina Tauber, the Shor Party (contender no.5 on national constituency ballot), candidate for Constituency no.19;
- Daniela Bodrug, Antimafie Party (contender no.6 on national constituency ballot);
- Ilian Cașu, Our Party (contender no.7 on national constituency ballot), candidate for Constituency no.27;
- Vitalia Pavlicenco, National Liberal Party (contender no.8 on national constituency ballot).

As at the previous debate, the participants were invited based on the order of registration with the election body. The rules remained the same as well: several key issues were debated, and every speaker had equal amounts of time to express how he or she stands on them, to ask questions, respond to questions, and make comments. The rules announced in advance were useful considering the heated atmosphere that ensued.

Marina Tauber, of the Shor Party, said their party is young, but in a short period of time managed to implement a number of projects in Orhei town and in Jora de Mijloc village. According to her, all the key points on which the party’s program is based refers to infrastructure, the social and economic spheres and the people’s power that were positively tested in the two localities.

“So, we have experience in managing a town and a village as well. We represent a new force that is based more on management than on geopolitics and on the foreign course of our country, or populist promises. So, for us it is important that the people should benefit from our projects now and here. And we proved this in our localities, were we are present as a political party also through other nationwide projects. I refer to the social stores that help many disfavored persons, socially deprived categories and those who need our special attention,” said Marina Tauber, candidate on behalf of the Shor Party in the national constituency and in single-member constituency No. 19 Ivancea.

According to her, the Shor Party is different from other politicians, who served on the Government and Parliament several mandates. The party has a new program and views that are completely different from those of other parties that were already represented in the country’s administration. “We consider this is a chance to persuade all the citizens that we can do what we did in Orhei town and in Jora de Mijloc commune all over the country,” stated the candidate.

Daniela Bodrug, of the People’s Movement Antimafie, said they called on the parties of the so-called opposition to boycott these elections. “We are not against the elections. We want parliamentary elections, but in the conditions imposed by Plahotniuc these elections are compromised from the start. We called on the parties that are against the mafia of all the colors in the Republic of Moldova to boycott this campaign that is compromised from the start,” said Daniela Bodrug, who runs on behalf of Antimafie in the national constituency.

According to the politician, this campaign is held in difficult conditions as the parties do not enjoy equal conditions to  assert themselves and the people cannot distinguish between political messages and the lies disseminated by the TV channels of the mafia . “This campaign is also compromised because Vlad Plahotniuc, by introducing the mixed electoral system, already has his winning candidates in single-member constituencies as the people there vote in the same way as they choose the mayors. So, the ruling party will have most of the winners in these singe-member constituencies. Furthermore, Plahotniuc keeps hostage persons who are on the lists of parties that say they are in the opposition,” stated the candidate.

Daniela Bodrug also said that the stake of Antimafie Movement is to cover its path with the aim of fighting this mafia and of bringing an intellectual, liberal platform of the right that would build a new Republic of Moldova that would be called the Union Republic after it unites with Romania.

Ilian Cașu, of Our Party, said the stake is decided by the people and the PPPN, together with its leader Renato Usatyi, even if he is not in the country, decided to run in these elections as the people who support them wanted the party to run. The essence of an party is to act based on people’s wishes. Therefore, the PPPN decided to run in the constituency where it considers it has bigger chances.

“What did we deliver as a party that was blocked in 2014 by the Plahotniuc-Filat mafia duo, on the last day of the campaign? We managed to win the local elections in 2015. We are the mayors and councilors who daily solve people’s problems even if we are pressed by the Plahotniuc regime and have tight budgets. In Balti, during two years and a half, Renato Usatyi and his team managed to deliver results,” stated Ilian Cașu, who runs in the national constituency and in single-member constituency No.27 Buicani.

According to him, the Balti mayor’s office in 2017 and in 2018 became the most transparent in Moldova, according to a study.  The people in Balti no longer have to pay for different services provided by the local government. “We are a classical anti-system party that copes with pressure. We were blocked in 2016 by the Plahotniuc-Dodon duo. They played with the Constitution and increased the age limit so that Renato Usatyi could not run in elections at the age of 38. We now reached the parliamentary elections and the electoral rules of the game were tailored so that Renato Usatyi could not run. On May 20, we proved in Balti that the people support us. We won the mayoralty correctly and honestly with 60% of the vote,” stated Ilian Cașu. 

Vitalia Pavlichenko, of the National Liberal Party, said she heads a party that was founded 12 years ago and this is a party with verticality that has a clear unionist  message. “As a result of our effort, an increasing number of parties and people embrace the desideratum of Moldova’s reunion with Romania. What is happening today here and what we have seen after 2009 show once again that the state is actually in agony. That’s why our platform is called “Union, not Agony”,” stated the politician.

“We consider the reunion with Romania can save us all from the mystery and catastrophe towards which we have headed during almost 28 years of Independence. But the most regrettable thing is that after 2009, when forces with pro-European hopes came, these dashed our last hopes,” stated Vitalia Pavlichenko, who runs on behalf of the National Liberal Party in the national constituency.

According to her, the fact that there are now more forces of the left that have a rating, either real or false, is a tragedy. “In fact, we must tell the citizens: you have the right to be disappointed, but we advise you not to use this right. That’s why I represent the PNL, which is the union symbol with a team of clean, non-blackmailable people who always come up with concrete projects,” stated Vitalia Pavlichenko.

The electoral contenders are invited to the electoral debates held by IPN Agency in accordance with the order in which they were registered by the Central Election Commission. The debates on January 30 involved representatives of the electoral bloc ACUM, the Party of Communists and the Party of Socialists. The Democratic Party didn’t respond to the invitation to attend the debate.

Candidates of the People’s Will Party, the Party of Regions of Moldova, the Party “Democracy at Home” and the Professionals’ Movement “Speranța-Nadejda” confirmed their participation in the debate scheduled for February 4.

The series of debates “Elections 2019: Please elect me MP because...”, forms part of the series of public debates held by IPN News Agency as part of the project “Developing political culture through public debates” that is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation of Germany.

The Agency published 3 news stories on the debate (see the English version of www.ipn.md): on 31.01.19, „ Shor Party, Antimafie, PPPN and PNL argue why their candidates deserve to be voted, IPN debate” - http://ipn.md/en/politica/96212; on 01.02.19, „ Priorities of Shor Party, Antimafie, PPPN and PNL if they enter next Parliament” - http://ipn.md/en/politica/96216; „ Shor Party, Antimafie, PPPN and PNL transmit messages to voters, IPN debate” -  http://ipn.md/en/politica/96214.

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