The electoral campaign is at the halfway, and this allows us to make some important conclusions on how it is deployed and the performance of the political actors.

The first conclusion is about the emphasis of the political actors. Thus, there is an obvious tendency to put emphasis on electoral offers focused on the concrete problems of people. The candidates from the Democratic Party, those from the Party of Socialists, those in the ACUM block, and those from the Sor Party are also coming up with solutions for various issues. The approach of these parties differs by prioritizing the domains. Thus, if the Democratic Party and the Șor Party emphasize social achievements, the Socialist Party attaches great importance to economic solutions, and the bloc NOW – the fight against corruption and the system  “that strangles the state”.

The second conclusion is that the geopolitical factor is felt in these elections less than in the previous ones. The geopolitical factor is observed especially in the public discourse of socialists and, to a lesser extent, in the speech of the bloc NOW. At the same time, the geopolitical element is completely absent from the public discourse of the Democratic Party and the Șor Party.

The third conclusion is that each of the political actors shows that they are afraid of something. This is an unprecedented situation so far in Moldovan elections when all the basic political actors are equally tried by a strong sense of fear. The government fears that the fairness of elections will raise suspicions and that their results may not be recognized internationally (if it is favourable for PD), and this may generate tensions in the post-election period. The PSRM and the bloc NOW fear that the government will either get them out of the elections or exert rigorous pressures that the results of the ballot will not be validated (if they do not agree) just as it did in the elections to the mayor of the capital in 2018.

The fourth conclusion is that each of the main political actors has set their target in this election. Thus PDM “knock” in the socialists and in the bloc NOW. If at the beginning of the campaign target no. 1 was the block NOW, towards the middle of the campaign target no. 1 became PSRM. Probably PD has data that talks about a possible coming of PSRM into governance independently, and that is why it puts pressure on this political actor. Also in PSRM “knock” the Șor Party. This formation understands that it can obtain votes only from the socialist electorate camp, so it focuses on the party. Those in the block NOW “knock” and in government, and in the PSRM, and the Șor Party. For their part, the socialists “knock” into government and sometimes enter into small polemics with the Șor Party.

The fifth conclusion is that, indifferent of the politician’s statements, this electoral campaign is “dirty”. Burned cars, black PR, promoting fakes, manipulations, vandalized panels etc. – there are just a few examples that show that this political struggle is not right.

These five conclusions are basic if we refer to the first half of the campaign. But, surely, new elements will emerge with the coming day of elections. We will refer to this in another analysis.

Dumitru Spataru

Trainee translator: Mihaela Grosu