Political scientist Ian Lisniewski believes that PAS made several mistakes, and in many localities there was a protest vote against the ruling party in Sunday’s local elections. “PAS remains party no. 1 in Moldova only because the opposition is very weak,” says the expert.

The local elections in the Republic of Moldova, which took place on November 5, became a springboard for the presidential elections scheduled for 2024, and most of the candidates for the post of mayor or head of the list for local councils will participate in them. presidential election.

This is the opinion of political scientist Jan Lisniewski, who runs a sociological research company in Chisinau. The expert also says that the ruling party PAS has achieved a good result only at first glance, as compared to the efforts and resources invested, the result is “somewhat modest”.

“The last survey of our company coincided with the data of the CEC. Practically, in the section “Ion Ceban” (no – the mayor of Chisinau) we gave 50.6% and the result was approximately the same, that is, the surprise in Chisinau was not big, as well as the surprise in the Republic of Moldova.

Here the question was whether all these actions of the ruling party or other parties would affect the turnout. The turnout was quite high (41.4% no), but unfortunately for PAS, the turnout rather influenced the protest vote. In the main population centers, where there was a confrontation between PAS and the opposition, the opposition won,” says Jan Lisniewski.

For many, the local elections have become a springboard for the presidential ones, because half of the candidates for the position of mayor of the capital got involved in these races just to start the presidential ones.

Also, the expert says, regarding “hybrid wars”, voters no longer believe that some portals with 100-200 views can influence the opinion of citizens.

“It is very difficult to lie to citizens with such panic. Society is no longer afraid,” Lisnevsky claims.

The political scientist refers to the fact that six television stations and 31 websites were recently closed in Moldova in the context of the fight against Russian propaganda.

For example, six stations are linked to oligarchs Ilan Shor and Vlad Plahotniuc, who left the Republic of Moldova in 2019. Plahotniuk is accused of “fraud” in the “billion dollar theft” case, and Ilan Shor was sentenced to 15 years. deprivation of liberty in the same case.

“The ruling party threw almost all resources into this battle”

According to preliminary election data, the Action and Solidarity Party (PAS) scored the best result in 19 out of 32 districts of the Republic of Moldova and won 240 mayors out of almost 900. On the other hand, in the elections for the capital city hall, PAS candidate Lilian Karp won 28.23%, taking second place after the incumbent mayor Ion Ceban with 50.62% of the vote.

“Even our survey showed that those who are candidates for the city council will take more than candidates for the post of city mayor. Rather, everyone is talking about this PAS defeat, because the party in power threw almost all its resources into this battle.

High-ranking persons, such as the prime minister, the speaker of the parliament, that is, people who do not have the right to campaign, were also involved. It was not clear to us why they are doing this, because they do not have a high enough rating, from 1% to 2%,” said Lisnevsky.

“Now the main risk is that European integration will lose the support of the majority of citizens”

Political scientist Yan Lisnevskyi. PHOTO: Personal archive

The political scientist claims that these elections were preceded by several government decisions that caused at least doubts and even harsh criticism from part of society and experts.

“Conclusions must be made quickly, because the presidential campaign starts tomorrow. The PAS party should think about the main topic – European integration. This is because due to the image of the PAS party, which is quite negative, this topic is downplayed.

The main risk now is that next year European integration will lose the support of the majority of citizens of the Republic of Moldova. Therefore, if the ruling party wants to have quite good results, it must think about its personal image, the image of state institutions.

Citizens do not understand which institution is responsible and why, because practically only one institution is visible – the Commission for Emergency Situations.

And the second advice for the authorities is to fulfill the promises of 2021 (in the campaign for early parliamentary elections – no). At that time, the #1 promise was the depoliticization of institutions. If this process starts, the rating of this party will be restored,” the expert said.

“PAS remains party no. 1 only because the opposition is very weak”

Even the opposition, according to the political scientist, does not enjoy the greatest trust.

“There are serious problems in the opposition, these problems are not only in the AU. It is disjointed, it is absolutely impossible to form a common front, as was once the case in 2007, at the local elections, or in 2009, 2010 – the Alliance for European Integration. It became practically impossible.

It must be understood that now this protest vote was against PAS, as it was once against Ihor Dodon in the presidential elections. If the opposition does not demonstrate a higher political culture, then it will lose again, just like PANS.

The PAS party remains the number one party in the country, but it remains only because the opposition is very weak,” said Lisniewski.

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