Are Right-Wingers No Longer Together?

Christian RUSSU

The split within the right-wing opposition bloc Together is a blow to the entire pro-European electorate and the political forces on this flank

The dynamic processes of recent weeks in the center-left flank, with a number of figures entering the electoral race, demanded response from the right-wing opposition bloc Vmeste (Together). First of all, the issue of their own presidential nominee. After all, the PR effect of the right-wing initiative, the Pact for Europe, had long since dwindled and the statements of some of the bloc’s leaders revealed a clear displeasure with their role as the ruling party’s backup. And now, after a lingering uncertainty, the right-wing seemed to have defined their political strategy and on August 4 stepped into the presidential race with their candidate. However, the person who the four right-wing parties had eventually chosen as a candidate was even more disappointing to many of their supporters and sympathizers than the three-month hiatus in the activities of the young but already troubled bloc Together. Even those who initially were not enthusiastic about a joint political project of the DA platform, the LOC movement, the CUB Party and the Party of Changes perceived the nomination of Octavian Ticu with much skepticism. Judge for yourself – young and seemingly ambitious politicians (former MPs, diplomats, officials) decide that the best prospect for the bloc would be to rally around the former leader of another crumbled right-wing party. Octavian Ţicu can be called an extravagant personality, an interesting interlocutor with stable views, but from the political point of view he is a “corpse” or a “spent casing”, whatever you prefer. In the last presidential elections, Ticu tried to oppose Maia Sandu, winning a ridiculous 2% of votes with his Unionist program, and in the second round recommended to vote for the current president. Octavian Ţicu discarded himself personally back at the start of the year when he said that it was simply stupid to repeat such an acrobatic trick again, while joining a promising association of right-wing opposition forces was criminal. Against the backdrop of these words, his entry into the elections looks even more ridiculous. Certainly, one can argue that the prospects of those who founded the Together bloc were not brilliant anyway. After all, some of them are as lame as Ţicu himself. The activity of the DA platform is depressing – humiliating requests to the ruling party to share powers, replacement of leaders with less and less important figures, departure of many activists, and so on. Stefan Gligor and Sergiu Tofilat, the Change project members, do nothing but cement their image as PAS court servants. As for Igor Mutneanu, he failed to promote his personal project, even though he was initially supported by the European group ALDE/RENEW. His CUB party never gained traction and then got isolated from the government-run media field. But the most unenviable fate befell the LOC project, which had showed potential for growth in local elections. The Cities and Communes League representatives look frankly confused in recent months, having realized the mire of commitments and governmental intrigues in which they got stuck. As a result, during the election of the bloc’s candidate for the presidential campaign, they were not even able to nominate their own person. Apparently, they lacked political stature and ambition, although the withdrawal of LOC from the Together bloc would have seemed more attractive to the electorate of the right-wing opposition, which had long realized the guiding hand of PAS in setting up and running this formation. However, things worked out the way they did. As planned by the political advisors of the ruling regime, Stefan Gligor was to lead the electoral bloc in the elections. And he almost won, gaining more than 40% of the votes from delegates and leaving both Ţicu and Munteanu far behind. However, in the second round, CUB members voted in favor of a unionist proposed by the DA platform in order to prevent Gligor from winning. Thus, Octavian Ţicu was used as a “Trojan horse”, obstructing PAS from creating a convenient spoiler in the elections, but at the same time burying the electoral bloc itself. The fact that it was CUB that dropped out of Împreună was a blow to the entire pro-European electorate and to the political forces on this flank. People were once again convinced that the parties positioning themselves as engines bringing us closer to Europe are driven by short-term interests, are small-minded, prone to intrigues and incapable of teamwork. Igor Munteanu did not even make it to the second round of the presidential candidate vote A day later, he dissolved the Together bloc, which can be described as both “political tourism” and an escape from a sinking ship. It is doubtful that such a background and putting his name on the ballot will help the CUB leader to impress the electorate and seek a seat in the next parliament. Another important thing is that the demise of the Together bloc showed the inability of the architects from the ruling regime to administer domestic political process without causing even greater public disapproval. Even ordinary observers realize that the right-wing oppositionists were first forced to unite under someone’s scenario as part of the PAS strategy, then they were kept waiting for a long time before a decision was made, and then they could not find a place in the one-party government system that had been formed. Therefore, further cabinet changes, or new pro-governmental party projects under Nicu Popescu or other impeccable functionaries with a view to the 2025 parliamentary campaign will be skeptically perceived by the population, even if everything will be done perfectly. In fact, they try to convince us there is no and cannot be any alternative to the ruling party and its leader as a driving force towards the European Union, at least until the presidential elections. Because of this, not only the center-left forces will be discredited, but also any real, not imaginary competition in the right segment of the country. Paradoxically, but the most painful blow from PAS has been dealt so far to the right wing, which somewhat changes the pre-election arrangements. And this is despite the fact that not all potential candidates have yet announced their intentions to participate in the race, and the political technologists of the authorities need certainty for accurate calculations. Under the new configuration, despite the withdrawal from the electoral race of the Sor-backed political projects, we can safely bet that such methods will be applied not only to the left-wing representatives. Thus, the hopes – or fears – of some citizens to see a ballot paper with an overly long list of names may not come true.