The Most Geopolitical Elections

Maia Sandu’s entourage has skillfully shifted the focus of the presidential election race from domestic issues to geopolitical topics, in which the ‘number one candidate” is like a duck to water compared to her rivals

Semyon ALBU, RTA: The presidential election still lacks some excitement. There are no debates just like in the U.S., which gather huge audiences and become the subject of gossip for the next few days or even weeks. And all thanks to our “yellow queen”, who decided that it is below her to debate with the “Kremlin’s pawns”, which probably includes the entire opposition. True, hints were given at the possible withdrawal of three candidates from the race, allegedly for illegal financing. Well, a bit of excitement, but something of this kind was performed by PAS before. So, it turns out that just a couple of weeks before the big day the most important event is the leak of dirt on a person who resembles the Moldovan minister. However, the main problem with the current contest for the presidential seat, and probably with almost all previous ones in recent decades, is that it again revolves around matters of global significance. Almost every campaign we complain that the Moldovan elections are permeated with geopolitics. But there’s so much of it now as if that were the only thing. I’m trying to recall the time when presidential candidates, in a civilized manner, without all this stuff about who is whose ‘agent’, competed publicly with their ideas and vision of how they see Moldova as a result of their possible rule. And, most importantly, how exactly they will achieve their goals. But I can’t recall. Nowadays, everything is so primitive that sometimes it seems to me that our political elites are treating us like a herd of herbivorous sheep. The plan for almost any programme of almost any candidate is now as simple as if generated by AI. First, you make a pompous headline like “For our beloved Moldova” or using the lofty words “justice”, “development”, “prosperity” and other trite language. Then you review the country’s problems, preferably those that are on everyone’s lips. You promise that this will definitely not happen under your rule, and offer bright outlook. And it’s done, you’re adorable. Let’s say, thirty schools were closed under Sandu? I’ll open a hundred! Agriculture is stagnating? I will flood it with money, cheap fuel and fertilizers and God knows what else! A rapidly declining population? I’ll adopt such programmes that people will pour back to their homeland and won’t have to leave anymore! And so on and so forth. However, none of the candidates is in a hurry to explain why everything will be better during their term of office. Or should we just take it for granted that everything is bad under Sandu and PAS, because they are bad, and everything will be good under your rule, because you are good, and times will be “good” under your rule too? But someone has already made such promises and even used them to monopolize power. The result is our present-day reality. Of course, no one will seriously discuss that dull nonsense, which absolutely all contestants for the main state post talk about. Well, consider for example what Sandu promises on the internal perimeter. A set of figures on minimum and average wages, pensions and other payments out of thin air. And by 2030! Needless to say, these indicators have absolutely nothing to do with the development of the country or even with the well-being of each individual citizen. Well, you may have a salary of 25 thousand, while the euro exchange rate at that moment will be a hundred. Will it make you feel better? Not to mention where the powers will come from to fulfil all the promises. As a result, the focus of pre-election discussions inside the country has habitually shifted to geopolitics. And this was done deliberately. Realizing that there are so many problems in Moldova today that the incumbent president will simply wallow in them, they quickly scheduled a referendum on European integration on the same date. And that’s it – now every candidate has to play by the rules established by Sandu’s entourage, i.e. to comment willy-nilly on the referendum, the attitude to the EU, and the prospects of the “European Moldova” project. And it so happens that none of them, with the exception of the SOR representatives who have already dropped out, opposes it and, moreover, all of them are in favor to a greater or lesser extent. And now any person may ask a question: if you all support European integration, but your programmes are equally empty, then what is the point of voting against Sandu? Things may be bad under her rule, but she will certainly cope with the path towards the EU better than you – not because of natural talents, of course, but simply because of the “favorite pet” status which they want to cherish and nurture. Will European partners show the same sympathy, for example, towards Stoianoglo, who is alien to them? Will the crowd of EU tops visit him? Will they donate money on “support platforms”? Far from a given. And you remember that the Kremlin’s influence has been found among almost all opposition candidates. So there will be no reason to wait for European money and grace. sThis is just my opinion, which I do not impose on anyone. But the referendum so far looks like a very good move, which set the presidential campaign in a favorable direction for Sandu, forced to talk about European integration, and not about the future of Moldova in a vacuum, which would be more appropriate and useful right now. Rosy pictures of a beautiful “European Moldova” dominate the airwaves, while EU dignitaries visit us one after another. But it seems that nobody is going to think about how and at the expense of what the country will be pulled out of the abyss and saved from losing even minimal capacity.