Weekly Roundup: Campaigning Begins
September 23, 2024
The Field of Presidential Candidates Takes Shape
With the official campaign period for the October 20th elections starting on September 20th we now have a more-or-less clear picture of who’s running for president. At time of writing there are 6 officially registered candidates and 6 more whose registrations are still pending.1
The 6 officially registered candidates are:
Alexandr Stoianoglo - Party of Socialists (PSRM)
Maia Sandu - Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS)
Renato Usatii - Our Party
Vasile Tarlev - Party for the Future of Moldova2
Irina Vlah - Independent
Ion Chicu - Party of Development and Consolidation of Moldova (PDCM)
The 6 candidates with signatures pending are:
Octavian Ticu - Împreună (Together) Block
Tudor Ulianovschi - Independent
Igor Muteanu - Coalition for Unity and Welfare (CUB)
Victoria Furtuna - Independent3
Andrei Nastase - Independent
Natalia Morari - Independent
If all 6 pending candidates have the signatures they collected verified by the Central Election Commission (CEC) then Moldova will have 12 candidates on the ballot on October 20th.
Campaigning Begins
With the official start of campaigning on September 20th many (but not all) candidates launched with events sharing their election messages and plans.
President Sandu launched her reelection campaign with a large rally outside the Opera and Ballet Theater in Chisinau. In her speech she stressed European integration as the national goal of Moldova saying:
"Every generation has its own mission. Our predecessors fought for freedom, their language, self-determination, risking being expelled from their faculty, from their jobs, or being arrested. Our generation has a democratic, free mission to integrate Moldova into the big European family, a family of lasting peace and prosperity. Our grandparents fought for this, so that we could live to see this day when we freely choose the path of our country,"
The President’s campaign slogan is “Maia Sandu For Moldova.” In her speech she promised that by 2030 the minimum wage would be 10,000 lei / month and the average salary in the economy would be 25,000 lei. She promised minimum pension rates of 3300 lei / month and free school lunches for children in grades 1-9.
Since launching her campaign on Friday President Sandu has crisscrossed the nation with rallies in campaign stops all around the country.
Vasile Tarlev also launched his campaign on Friday speaking to an auditorium of supporters with the campaign slogan "Development, Welfare, Peace." He spoke of the need for Moldova to maintain neutrality and have good relations with both Europe and Russia.
Renato Usatii launched his campaign with a fiery speech where he said (in part):
"We must destroy the system that has kept Moldova on its knees for the past 33 years. Moldova must become a country where the law reigns, where thieves and traitors are held accountable, where every citizen lives a dignified life. For this, there must be a strong leader at the helm.4 I am ready to take responsibility for Moldova and for real changes. I will be a president who unites society. I intend to promote national development exclusively in the interests of Moldova and its citizens. We must lift the country out of the position of a vassal,"
Usatii promised to create a position of vice president, tax breaks for the diaspora and a network of state run consulting centers to help citizens invest in financial markets. He also promised an end to military conscription and the creation of an all volunteer army.
Ion Chicu launched his campaign saying that the race "… will determine who will own the country - its people or foreigners." As is typical of Chicu he criticized the current government but had no specific plans himself with promises such as “to develop the economy.”
Socialist Candidate Alexandr Stoianoglo launched his campaign with a highly produced documentary video about his life. The 18 minute long video5 details his birth, upbringing, political journey and also his arrest for corruption (allegations he denies). Hi campaign slogan is "Justice for All" and the main theme of his speech was focused on the theme of impartial justice and the need to be a president for all citizens.
Other candidates have not yet officially launched their campaigns. Irina Vlah has announced that she will launch hers on September 29th, missing 9 days of a 30 day campaign season, in order to launch on “World Heart Day.”
We’ll follow the presidential campaign from a high level here at Moldova Matters, but if you’re interested in seeing or reading more about each candidate’s campaign facebook is the primary social media and messaging tool in Moldova and their pages chronicle campaign stops and speeches.
Partner Countries Pledge Financial Assistance to Moldova
On September 17th delegations from 65 nations came to Chisinau to participate in the Moldova Support Platform. This forum, which was first convened in April 2022 at the initiative of Germany seeks to support Moldova in the context of the ongoing war.
Following the summit Moldova signed 9 agreements providing for 80 million euros in grants and 305 million euros in loans.
At the launching of the event President Sandu made the case for supporting Moldova saying:
"We must act decisively. (…) Moldova has enormous potential, but in the conditions of war in the neighboring country, we find it difficult to use it. History has taught us that no country has been able to achieve economic success without strong initial support and a strong partnerships. It is for this kind of help that we have turned to our partners,"
Among the agreements signed was a 79 million euro preferential loan from Canada to support vulnerable families in Moldova and Ukrainian refugees, a 12 million euro grant from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to support repairs to 128 kilometers of railway tracks and a 200 million euro loan from the EIB to support the reforestation of 63,000 hectares of land.
At the conference German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock also announced 100 million euros in support to Ukraine in advance of a difficult winter. She stated "It is clear that Russia plans to make life as terrible as possible for the people of Ukraine this winter." She went on to note that "if Russia achieves military successes on the territory of Ukraine, Moldova could become the next target. (…) Therefore, support for Ukraine is also support for Moldova,"
In response to online criticism from pro-Russian social media channels that the government was significantly increasing the national debt, PAS MP Radu Marian explained that while the nominal national debt has increased it has largely stayed the same in terms of GDP. When PAS came into office the national debt stood at 34% of GDP, now it is 34.8%.
Other Political News
Here’s a roundup of the other important political stories of the week:
The Ministry of Education announced the creation of student councils in all Moldovan schools. The first student councils will be elected on October 10th. These councils will then nominate delegates to regional level student councils and by the end of the year these regional councils will elect members of a national student council. In schools, councils will work with school administrators, regional councils will work with the education departments of Raion Councils and the National Student Council will work with the Ministry of Education.
Minister of Education Dan Perciun promised to raise teacher salaries by January 1st 2025. The ministry did not announce how much of a raise teachers would get, last year salaries were raised by 15%.
The government has recommended that President Sandu dismiss the Chief of Staff of the National Army Eduard Ohladciuc. The stated reason is that Brigadier General Ohladciuc’s contract with the army is expiring in October. It is unclear if the army is not renewing this contract or if the he decided to retire. Brigadier General Ohladciuc was appointed as head of the army in September 2021 when President Sandu dismissed Igor Gorgan from the post. We’ve previously written about how Igor Gorgan is suspected of being a Russian agent. This week he was formally charged with treason.
Moldova’s top NGO focused on election integrity Promo-LEX has issued a report on their mission monitoring the elections. In it they reported 580,000 lei in undeclared expenses related to the gathering of signatures with the majority - 43% being related to Irina Vlah’s campaign. The second most violations came from the Maia Sandu campaign (23%). The report found the use of administrative resources6 by many parties and that Shor affiliated groups handed out backpacks of school supplies to children from vulnerable families as well as wheelchairs to those who needed them.
President Sandu urged parliament to pass legislation creating an Anti-Corruption Court. The President stated that studies and consultations have taken place over the summer and that the Presidential Administration has sent draft legislation to parliament for consideration. Given the parliament’s suspension of all but key activities during the campaign the legislation is unlikely to be taken up until November.
Shor Related News
Ilan Shor’s Pobeda (Victory) group has begun organizing protests again. Last week a protest was held against European Integration called "For Moldova without the EU" where demonstrators chanted anti-government and anti-EU slogans.
In a separate incident, a protest was held outside the CEC where some protestors threw eggs and other objects at the building. Two men were arrested after the protest on the suspicion of organizing riots. Police allege that they hired 17 young men to go to the event with a promise of $50 plus a 1000 lei bonus for throwing eggs. The organizers were paid 20,000 lei themselves and apparently didn’t follow through on their promises and only paid the rioters 500 to 600 lei. In the event paint was thrown over the doors and facade of the CEC.
Marina Tauber spent the week in St. Petersburg meeting with Russian officials including Khadizhat Kadyrova, the daughter of Ramzan Kadyrov. Following the meeting she stated that Shor’s political groups share common goals with the Chechen strongman and praised the example of upholding traditional values in Chechnya.7
At the same time Bashkan Gutsul was in Moscow where she signed an agreement with Ilan Shor’s NGO “Eurasia” promising material support for Gagauzian farmers in the form of 7 tons of fertilizer and 5 tons of diesel fuel. She says that she will appeal to parliament to allow her to import these goods as humanitarian aid.
Economic Updates
From September 16-20 the government organized Moldova Business Week with events around the country highlighting Moldovan business and working to attract new investors. During the event Minister of Economy Dumitru Alaiba announced that company ROCA Industry had decided to invest 1.5 million euros for the creation of a new paint factory. The company already operates a fiberglass production plant in Vulcanesti and plans to double production at that facility in the next 2 years.
The government pitched potential investors in the planned Bereşti logistics center which a feasibility study supported by USAID has estimated will cost 18 million euros in the initial phase. The plan will modernize and expand the Bereşti rail station which is connected to Romania with European gauge rail and eastward with Soviet gauge rail. The plan envisions new access roads, warehouses, container cranes and other infrastructure which will support the transit of up to 4 million tons of goods a year.
Additionally, Minister Alaiba announced the official opening of the new National Institute of Innovation in Cybersecurity “Cybercor” at the Technical University. Explaining the new institute he stated:
"We need talented people who will maintain the security of systems and protect them from attacks. The institute will cover all aspects of cyber security: prevention, threat detection, incident response and system recovery,"
The creation of the institute was funded and supported by the US, UK and Swedish governments.
Registration in Moldova takes place in steps. 13 potential candidates formed “initiative groups” (basically campaign committees) to take part in the election. Of those, 12 potential candidates gathered the required signatures for ballot access and turned them in to the Central Election Commission (CEC) by the September 20th deadline. The CEC takes a few days to verify all these signatures. 6 candidates have already been verified because they turned their signatures in early while 6 more are pending verification.
Tarlev has been reported to be closely connected to Ilan Shor and the Kremlin. He attempted to run as an independent but was forced to run under the label of the party that he leads by CEC rules.
Nominally independent Furtuna has been reported to be closely connected to Shor and the Kremlin
Renato Usatii is a hard candidate to easily categorize. He is an energetic campaigner with populist messages and slogans. The only clear through-line to his various ideas is that Moldova needs a strongman leader - him. He’s previously campaign saying that Moldova need’s it’s own Aleksandr Lukashenko and that he’s the perfect candidate for this role.
The Socialist party is notorious for long, cumbersome campaign materials and has not yet discovered tik-tok.
“Administrative Resources” refers to elected leaders or civil servants using their powers of office to promote a political campaign or candidate. It can range from using office printers to leveraging state power in a way that appears to have a campaign purpose - such as announcing salary increases to public sector workers or bonuses to pensioners during the campaign.
Chechnya is notorious for policies described as “anti-gay purges” and police roundups and subsequent torture of people they suspect of being gay.