Opinion: Results of the Local Elections in Moldova Are a Yellow Card To the Ruling Coalition

According to the RTA regular expert Vladimir Rotar, the results of the local vote should be a wake-up call for the ACUM alliance and the Party of Socialists. Democratic revenge “This election contained a lot of intriguing stories: remake of the fight between Ion Ceban and Andrei Nastase for the seat of Chisinau mayor, resuscitation of Our Party and Renato Usatii’s political career. But the main question was what results the socialists and pro-Europeans would show when there is no artificial monopoly of the Democratic Party, and what would happen to the PDM itself,” the expert says. Rotar recalled that at one time the Democratic Party using the carrot and stick method secured almost sole local control. “After the Plahotniuc regime collapsed, the ‘regional dictatorship’ built by him fell down as expected. The mayors, feeling the wind of change, one by one began to leave the PDM, while its top was smashed by the new ruling alliance. It seemed that the days of the Democrats were numbered and after the local elections the party would finally sink into oblivion. And so it probably would have happened if the vote had been held back then, in June,” says the analyst. The expert points out that in the last elections the Democratic Party received 191 elected mayors – almost the same as the PSRM and ACUM combined. Another 175 candidates from the PDM will continue to fight in the second round. “Yes, the Democrats lost to the coalition in local and district councils, but in any case, this is a very solid result for what everyone thought was a defeated party,” the expert notes. Failed expectations Vladimir Rotar believes that the high results of the Democratic Party are an eloquent assessment by the population of what has been happening in the country for the last four months. “The change of power, especially such an odious as it was in Moldova in recent years, always creates the effect of high expectations. Many sincerely believed in almost instantaneous change for the better, and they naturally suffered a bitter disappointment. But the fact is that the alliance of the PSRM and ACUM has done everything to ensure that it comes as soon as possible: constant squabbles and attacks at each other, relapses of anti-Russian rhetoric, scandals around judicial and prosecutorial bodies, ambiguous appointments. But still there’s not been recipes and, most importantly, real steps to improve the lives of the population of the country,” says Rotar. Moldovans feel deceived and less trust the new government, and some even begin to nostalgic for the rule of the PDM, says the expert. “It is not surprising when the most high-profile measures in the economy of recent months – raising some taxes, seemingly at the request of the IMF, receiving new loans from Western donors, as well as the constant threatening of higher prices and tariffs,” says Rotar. According to the analyst, the result of such socio-economic policy was almost completely lost public confidence in the ruling alliance. “The truth is that only deoligarchization can’t be enough forever, and now there is nothing except for talks about it. It is not surprising that against this background, even the rule of the democrats is seen as not so bad. In the pre-election period, the PDM was clever enough to stake not on geopolitics, but on targeted social and economic projects: Good Roads, First House, etc. Certainly, they were implemented clearly not because of great philanthropy of the former master of Moldova, and their PR was often much superior to the real results. But no matter how ambiguous these programs seemed, they were and now look good in contrast to the constant statements of members of the ruling coalition about billion-dollar holes in the budget and the need to tighten the belts,” the expert explains. According to Rotar, it is time for the members of the ruling coalition to come down from the geopolitical clouds to earth and pay attention to the things inside the country: “The Sandu government regularly emphasizes its exceptional role in restoring relations with the European Union, and President Igor Dodon seems to spend more time on foreign tours than in Chisinau. However, by and large, it’s not so important for the population, whether Moldovan politicians are welcomed in the high offices of Moscow and Brussels. They are concerned primarily with personal well-being, of their own and their families. But the new power has made absolutely nothing yet for its increase”. The expert believes that the results of the local elections should make the members of the ruling alliance think seriously. “We need a thorough analysis of what went wrong, which should be certainly followed by personnel changes. But, most importantly, it is time to stop looking exclusively at foreign policy and, finally, to engage in internal affairs. Otherwise, the next elections, presidential or off-year parliamentary, will bring new surprises that can be fatal for the ACUM-PSRM alliance,” Vladimir Rotar is convinced.