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 05 February 2019, Debate 104 brought together:

- Anatolie Prohnițchi, candidate of the Green Party (electoral competitor no.14 on the national ballot);
- Vlad Bilețchi, candidate of the Liberal Party (electoral competitor no.15 on the national ballot) running in the single-member constituency no.26 Centru & Buiucani.

To ensure the balance standards required by the national electoral legislation and IPB own guidelines on the organization of debates? The same set of rules as in previous rounds were applied.

Anatolie Prohnitski, of the PVE, said some of the parties realized long ago that the dictatorship of one party is over in Moldova. It is already predestined to have a coalition in Parliament and a coalition Government, as many European countries have, and about which many election runners speak. Even if these declare their love and faith to Europe, they behave in a different way, the style being typical of them as these are either parties who became the clone of a  declining party or are formed by the oligarchic-political principle: money – power – again money.

“As regards our party, we said not only once at the parliamentary or local elections in different years that the presence of the Ecologist Green Party in the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova is a necessity as we have an ecologist, environmental protection, social doctrine that is based first of all on education, health, the observance of the principle of gender equality and many others. We promote noble and correct ideas that are supported by the European countries,” stated Anatolie Prohnitski.

According to him, the people often say they like the living standards in such countries as Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland, but the population there votes Green parties that are on the ascendant and that deliver palpable results. The people also like the social policy of the Greens, including that oriented to the Moldovans who work there, like the justice system there, the cleanness, high-quality products, etc. “So, together we should decide and you should decide to  vote the Ecologist Green Party of the Republic of Moldova, which, without making any big statements, since 2008 has been a fully-fledged member of the European Green Party, has the right to vote there and can influence the political decisions of the European Parliament through the agency of the European Green Party. That’s why I say the Greens from Moldova should be voted and they should be present in Parliament,” stated Anatolie Prohnitski.

Vlad Biletski, of the PL, said the upcoming elections are held based on a new electoral system for the Republic of  Moldova. The mixed system is unknown, difficult and intricate for Moldova’s population as the people haven’t yet familiarized themselves with this. In the meetings with the voters, he sees the people do not understand how this system works, what is the difference between an MP chosen in the national constituency and one elected in the uninominal constituency. 

Vlad Biletski, who runs in uninominal constituency No. 26 Centru Buiucani, said the stake of elections is very simple. The big parties that were in power have always tried to replace the electoral system, either the Liberal Democratic Party that earlier proposed the mixed system or the Democratic Party and the Party of Socialists that proposed this initiative now. The mixed electoral system is inappropriate for the Republic of Moldova and all the international experts refrained from approving of this. They recommended not implementing this system as it favors the big parties with money and disfavors the small groups that cannot enter Parliament. Moreover, in the specialty doctrine this system is called the system of lost votes as a candidate in a constituency can win with 10-15% of the vote and, respectively, the representativeness and legitimacy of an MP is smaller.

“Democracy in the Republic of Moldova will be affected by this electoral system. The stake is for the Democratic Party, the Party of Socialists and, implicitly, the Shor Party, which have practically unlimited financial resources and which boast they can transform the Republic of Moldova into heaven, to remain in power. The stake is also for the small pro-European, niche parties and the unionist parties, which target a particulate section of society, not to enter Parliament. The goal is to disperse the vote and divide the electorate by pulverizing the vote, by involving pro-European candidates in constituencies, respectively, to destroy the chances of entering Parliament. We know that the Republic of Moldova is a working field of two currents – a pro-Russian one and a pro-Western, pro-Romania and pro-European one. The chances are 50 to 50,” stated the candidate.

The Political Party “Patria” was also invited to the February 5 debate, but this delegated no representative to take part.

The contestants 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 debate on January 30 involved representatives of the electoral bloc ACUM, the Party of Communists and the Party of Socialists. Representatives of the Shor Party, the People’s Movement Antimafie, the Our Party and the National Liberal Party took part in the January 31 debate. The debate held on February 4 involved representatives of the Party “People’s Will”, the Party “Democracy at Home” and Professionals’ Movement “Speranța-Nadejda”.

Of the 15 election contestants, the invitation to the debate was rejected by the Democratic Party, the Party of Regions and the Political Party “Patria”.

The Agency published 3 news stories on the debate (see the English version of www.ipn.md): on 05.02.19, „PVE and PL state their positions on referendum. IPN debate” - http://ipn.md/en/politica/96298, on 05.02.19, „Elections in constituencies should not be boycotted, PVE and PL formulate recommendations for voters” - http://ipn.md/en/politica/96303; „ PL and PVE promise to stop exodus of young people and to root out corruption if they enter Parliament” -  http://ipn.md/en/politica/96302.

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