On Sunday, October 20, 2 million Moldovans are asked to choose between an outgoing president whose political project is to tie the country to the European Union (EU) and 10 other candidates, most of whom leaning to varying degrees toward the former Russian overlord. To attract voters to the polls, particularly the 200,000-strong diaspora, 52-year-old Maia Sandu, the overwhelming favorite, has coupled the presidential election with a referendum on whether or not the country should join the EU.
“I’m going to vote yes [in the referendum], but I haven’t yet decided which candidate I’ll vote for in the presidential election,” said Liolia Rusu, 59, a childcare worker in Anenii Noi, a small, mainly wine-growing town southeast of the capital, Chisinau. She and a colleague were on their way to a rally organized by the main opposition candidate, Alexandr Stoianoglo, in the late afternoon of Tuesday, October 15. “We don’t know too much about this candidate. We’re trying to listen to them all. Voting is important, and I don’t miss a single election. It’s our future that’s being decided,” said 55-year-old Natalia Nemerenco. Both dream of “living like in Europe, where life is better than here!”
An absent youth
The two women are one of the groups converging on the House of Culture. Before entering the building, the crowd walked by a massive statue of Lenin – now a rarity in Moldova – staring blankly at it with arms flailing. Inside, all the seats were taken by hundreds of elderly people, while the youth was visibly absent. A campaign newspaper entirely in Russian was distributed to the public, even though the country’s official language is Romanian.
After a long wait, Stoianoglo, 57, candidate for the Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova, took the microphone. A few cheers encouraged him. Credited with 9% of voting intentions, the man was wearing an elegant suit, in stark contrast to the audience, dressed very modestly. His face is severe, with a long nose, flattened in the middle like a boxer’s, ending in a wide, slightly twisted mouth that gives him an ironic pout. He began by introducing himself in Romanian, but after a few minutes, this former prosecutor explained in Russian that he would speak in both languages. Then he completely stopped speaking in Romanian, which is not his mother tongue.
“It’s business that should drive the country’s economy and support welfare. When I became district attorney, we were arresting 1,000 businessmen a year, not because they were committing crimes, but to extort money from them,” the candidate said, who quickly moved on to the hot topic of security, marking his difference with the outgoing president. “We will develop the status of neutrality [enshrined in the 1994 Moldovan Constitution]. That way, we’ll never be drawn into a war. No bases, no military exercises here!” The remark was met with whispers of approval from the audience.
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Publish date : 2024-10-19 18:00:00
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