In the Republic of Moldova, corruption is tolerated during ordinary times. The people tend to oppose, but do not do enough to make the correct choice, while the pandemic revealed the services of a poor quality organized by the state institution and corruption. This determined particular changes in the electoral behavior of society, Vadim Pistrinciuc, executive director of the Institute for Strategic Policies and Initiatives, stated in IPN’s public debate “First round of presidential elections 2020: lessons learned and lessons to be learned”.
The expert noted that candidate Igor Dodon lost a lot owing not to the pandemic, but rather because he didn’t have the corruption fighting objective in his electoral program.
According to Vadim Pistricniuc, owing to the access to information through social networking sites, the people make a connection between what’s going on in Chisinau and those who govern much easier. Igor Dodon was practically the only candidate who didn’t have a very clear message centering on the fight against corruption, leaving the impression that he wants to veil the phenomenon.
On the other hand, a lot of negative emotions appeared due to the health crisis. There is a very important category of people leaning to the center. These are people who manage small and medium-sized enterprises. The surveys conducted among business entities show that many of those who managed SMEs consider the economic future during the next six months is gloomy and some of them could even seize operations. This category of people usually vote for the government or for the opposition. The current power didn’t prepare a set of proposals, solutions, ideas for them and didn’t support them.
Vadim Pistrinciuc noted the people started to become disappointed in the Eastern option in a way, but he does not see how large numbers of the supporters of Renato Usatyi could vote for Igor Dodon. Renato Usatyi’s campaign was powerfully negative against Igor Dodon.
According to Vadim Pistrinciuc, Igor Dodon’s electoral campaign for the second round of voting includes elements to the limit of common sense, but he also unveiled particular subtleties about fake news and misinformation. “He decided not to be the beneficiary of disseminated fake news, but he himself presented fake news about someone’s intention to close schools, churches, the country on the whole. This move that is risky for Dodon is aimed at mobilizing the voters who support the Eastern course,” stated the expert.
The public debate “First round of presidential elections 2020: lessons learned and lessons to be learned” was the 158th installment of the series “Developing political culture through public debates” that is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
