In the runoff vote, the candidates for President must center on the present for the future, not on the present for the past, while the authorities should ensure a democratic, fair and transparent electoral exercise. The people, if they want a change, must go and vote for a change. If they want the stability witnessed until now, they should go and vote for stability. The Republic of Moldova deserves more in its efforts to come closer to the EU not for integration or access to the European institutions, but rather for modernization through development and democratization, Victor Juc, director of the Institute for Legal, Political and Sociological Research, stated in IPN’s public debate “First round of presidential elections 2020: lessons learned and lessons to be learned”.
The expert noted the Republic of Moldova should restore the election of the President by Parliament, especially because the President, according to his constitutional powers, does not form part of the executive. “The candidates, to be more convincing, come and make promises that they cannot deliver. It is one thing to say “we will raise pensions” and it is something else to say “we will call on the Government to identify solutions, we will ask Parliament to make amendments” and then the people will think that the process is too bureaucratized and this will not bring results. The method of electing the President does not influence the President’s duties. In the Republic of Moldova, the elected President makes big socioeconomic promises that cannot be delivered by this, especially because the President forms part of a party, while the parliamentary majority and, implicitly, the government coalition of another party,” said Victor Juc.
According to him, in the first round of the presidential elections, the people’s option was influenced by feelings rather than by reason. “What happened in the elections held in constituency No. 38 in March was practically transposed to the elections of November 1.”
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.
