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Regrouping of political forces
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Last week was marked by the regrouping of political forces. A group of left wing parties, including the Communist Party as well, invited President Voronin to join the efforts in finding solutions for the “political consensus and civic peace in the society”. So, the much-awaited “unification of the left and center-left forces” has finally happened. The Union shall be guided in its activity by the experience of the European left wing forces. The major goal of the Union is set to be “edification of a modern state in the Republic of Moldova”.
Domestic analysts and experts praised the unification of the left wing forces. However, they also believe the event wouldn’t have a significant impact on the behavior of left-wing voters. According to several opinion polls, Communist Party has a rating 10! times higher than that of the other seven parties taken together. Furthermore, the example of the left wing triggered a similar reaction within the right wing forces, which during a protest rally against the Communist ruling held on February 23, announced the establishment of a single electoral bloc in view of the upcoming local elections, comprising 8 parties.
To go back to the Left Union, it has a long-term goal, which is still quite vague. Eleven years of the Republic of Moldova’s existence have shown that on the eve of elections ruling parties used to resort to state building rhetoric. The recent initiative of the left parties falls exactly within the same pattern. However, this time the situation is different from the previous years. For one thing, the Communist Party needs the Union not for strategic or electoral reasons, but rather for tactic matters. Under the current circumstances, when a series of opposition parties and two Parliament opposition factions made public their commitment to rally against the incumbent governing, Communist’s intention to unify with minor left parties might prove to be very handy. Needless to say, those minor parties otherwise would have been “eliminated” via the recent amendment to the Law on Political Parties obliging parties to yearly confirm a 5,000 membership. So, those dying political parties proved their usefulness to the ruling party. The reward for being usefulness is the adjournment, at the initiative of President Voronin, of enforcing the said amendments until fall. In other words those parties are allowed to exist for now. However, those new allies of the ruling party should take into consideration the experience of the previous alliances Communist Party made. For instance, although the Communist faction was the one to draft and adopt the amendments to the Law on Political Parties and President promulgated them, the scapegoat found was Minister of Justice, Ion Morei, who is not even a member of the Communist Party and furthermore opposed the amendments.
As for the benefits Communist Party would derive from the unification, they are quite numerous. Firstly, the Communist Party elegantly proved that it is impossible to form a consolidated opposition in Moldova. Secondly, Communist Party gained a better image in the eyes of Council of Europe, which is monitoring the democratic developments in the Republic of Moldova. On February 12, President Voronin stated that “for Moldova, taking over the Presidency of the CE Ministerial Council is very important both from the national interests and promoting country image perspective”. He demanded “assumed obligations to be fulfilled ASAP, which is paramount for taking over the Presidency”. The mandate of the Ministerial Council Presidency lasts for only six months, and it is very likely that afterwards the Communist Party would no longer need the Left Union. Nevertheless, there is one reason why the Left Union would still be useful, namely the initiative of Republic of Moldova federalization promoted by President Voronin.
On the other hand, at the first glance the coalition of the eight right-wing parties seems quite pragmatic. Their goal is to run within a single electoral bloc in the upcoming local elections. They are probably thinking of long term perspectives as well, i.e. running jointly in parliamentary elections, otherwise a coalition in view of local elections alone is useless. For this to happen, a series of important factors, which at the moment are viewed as major impediments for the consolidation of right-wing parties, should be given thorough consideration. Otherwise, the electoral bloc for the local elections might never materialize. After all, the future of the right wing coalition shall be tailored by the efforts of the Left Union to “edify a modern state”, i.e. a federative state. A right wing coalition is viable only if conceived to oppose authorities’ intentions to federalize the Republic of Moldova. It may well happen that some of the minor right wing parties would be absorbed by the Christian-Democratic Peoples’ Party, whereas the Liberal and Socio-Liberal Parties would establish the Liberal Convention, which would occasionally cooperate with Christian-Democrats and other right wing parties on issues of mutual interest.
The positions taken by the Left Union and right-wing coalition sound promising for the social-democratic parties, which were left aside from the unification processes. Apparently, centrist parties’ fantasy to influence the political process by choosing to form coalitions with either “right” or “left” might finally come true, especially as two parties Social Democratic Alliance, headed by former Prime-Minister Dumitru Braghis and Independent’s Alliance headed by incumbent Chisinau Mayor, Serafim Urechean have already initiated talks in this respect. Both leaders enjoy such a rating able to secure an added value upon the parties unification.
In conclusion, without any administrative methods being employed political spectrum in the Republic of Moldova evolves towards purification.