"Reaching the Bottom". What Is Now Happening in the Moldovan Parliament

Sergiu CHEBAN The recent glaring events in the Moldovan parliament convince that the Republic of Moldova political system needs to be deeply cleaned and reboot its fallen to the bottom image This week marked a resonant but already familiar situation - another deputy decided to join the Pro Moldova parliamentary group. This time it turned out to be Stefan Gatcan. The last transfer’s distinctive feature was that namely Socialist faction lost its elect after (what is important) supporting him in March this year to “get elected” to the single-mandate constituency in Hincesti. Unlike the Democratic Party, whose leaders in such cases are limited to verbal censure of their former colleagues, the socialists party activist reacted quite painfully to being betrayed by their comrade-in-arms. It all ended on Wednesday when after the PSRM representatives meeting with Gatcan the later stated his mandate resignation that got published within the walls of parliament while the deputy defector got exported for parts unknown. According to unconfirmed Moldovan media data, the state security service escorted the ex-socialist to the border with Romania where he left the country. The inexperienced political representative, is essentially a professional physician and the reprisal against him is unlikely to have anything in common with state legal procedures looking more like an influential Italian families’ conflict. Some Moldovan experts even drew attention to the fact that against the background of what happened, Vlad Plahotniuc and the unlawful actions of his inner circle look much pale. “For the first time in the history of Moldovan parliamentarism, a deputy was held. If no immediate measures are taken and no parliament reaction follows, then we should note that the situation in the Republic of Moldova has degraded, that this state has turned into a prop,” political analyst Anatol Tsaranu said. In his opinion, "if immediate measures are not taken, the Republic of Moldova will plunge into chaos." Of course, the country's leadership will try by all means to distance itself from the scandalous episode. However, the factor of the president’s proximity to the party of socialists will only increase suspicions, including intentional ones about the head of state being involved in the political neutralization of the still acting deputy in an openly criminal manner. Anyway, the Moldovan authorities’ discredit level and the degree of damage to the country's international image have reached new, frightening “heights”. Meanwhile, expulsing an acting deputy out of the country does not solve the problem that the coalition loses the parliamentary majority and can only be considered as an act of intimidation for the remaining socialist deputies. Moreover, there is every reason to believe that the absence of elected representative in the country and the inability to confirm the voluntary resignation of powers can lead to significant difficulties in the process of mandate canceling. It should not be ruled out that attempts to fragment the socialist faction will lead to confrontations between Igor Dodon and Vlad Plahotniuc passing into a more acute phase using completely different instruments of force and political influence. In addition, the thrilling events of the seemingly familiar “political tourism” could significantly accelerate events development on Moldovan political arena. Especially considering that the party in power, according to the estimates of individual opposition leaders, has already crossed the permissible lines. In this context, the recent months’ fierce confrontation can take on a whole new meaning and motivate even most pragmatic Moldovan politicians to decisive action. A convenient reason for this was yesterday’s government decision to take responsibility for four bills providing for amendments to the country's budget. In particular, the government plans to allocate funds for socio-economic support to the population implementation that is to increase the 2020 budget deficit by 1.23 billion lei. Among the measures proposed by the government are lump-sum payments to pensioners, subsidies for agriculture and a phased increase in wages for health workers. Massively boycotting by the opposition forces of parliament’s plenary session naturally led to the absence of a quorum and to legislative initiatives of the current Cabinet’s failure. And besides, a little later, the DA platform demanded that the Chicu government resign. Obviously, the upcoming electoral processes in Moldova finally subjugated all the political events in the country. In the absence of a parliamentary majority, the Moldovan government is switching from a technocratic regime and combating the pandemic to the pre-election work format and that clearly causes irritation and opposition’s protests. Against this background, groups “dismantling” and the methods they use indicate the disastrous state of the political system of Moldova, which needs to be deeply rebooted while the image that “reached the bottom” has to be set right.