“Eurocommunists” will appear in Moldova: New hope or deception of Russian-speaking voters?
A new political force, the “Civil Congress,” has taken shape in Moldova. As noted at the founding congress, this is “the first party from below in Moldova,” “the first party in Moldova without a chairman or leader.”
The founders of the “Civil Congress” are Iurie Muntean, Mark Tkachuk, Zurab Todua, Dmitry Cavruk and Evgeniy Ceban, who were previously members of the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova. The created party is also left-wing.
The political formation, according to its founders, will work without shadow funding, through voluntary contributions and donations.
In the program document “The action plan “Moldova 2020 – 2025”, presented by the party, speaks of “a concentration of uncontrolled power in the hands of several oligarchic clans”, a demographic catastrophe, an environmental disaster, economic degradation, a lack of state policy in the development of innovation, in the cultural and humanitarian sphere.
The Citizens' Congress action plan calls for "five systemic modernizations." We are talking about the decriminalization of the political system and the introduction of public control over power; on imperative justice (it is proposed that the starting base for calculating old-age or disability pensions should be set to the sum of two subsistence minimums); on the decriminalization of the economy, technological re-equipment and adaptation of Moldova to global markets; on the transformation of Moldova into a territory of knowledge; about the Green Revolution in the country.
The shocking statements of the initiators of the creation of the “Civil Congress” and the very emergence of a new political force are widely discussed in society. As soon as the founders of the party, Mark Tkachuk and Yuri Muntyan, announced their interesting ideas and announced the creation of the “Civil Congress” (this was in the summer of 2019), various versions immediately appeared about its origin - from the project of Kremlin political strategists as an alternative to the socialists and Dodon personally to an anti-Russian project on the left flank.
Experts from the Institute of Socio-Political Research and Regional Development talk about the chances of success of the new political project and whether the “Civil Congress” will be able to oust the left forces of Moldova.
Director of ISPIRR Igor Shornikov, who was among those invited to the founding congress of the Citizens' Congress, admitted that the event gave him "ambivalent feelings." On the one hand, he says, it is obvious that in Moldova there are still proactive, responsible, thinking citizens who remember what Soviet Moldova was like, understand that life is development, not survival, and everything in Moldova could be different , believe that there is still a chance to save the country from depopulation and annihilation. On the other hand, a good moment has been chosen to organize a new party on the left flank.
“The “Civil Congress” project appears at the moment when the Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova, which had previously successfully accumulated the votes of pro-Russian citizens for five years, finally comes to power. But instead of fulfilling its own promises (Russian language, “History of Moldova”, Eurasian integration), the PSRM is forced to continue the course that Moldova has followed since gaining independence. The question arises: isn’t the “Civil Congress” another “corral” for neutralizing the inconvenient for the pro-Western elites and the thrice deceived left-wing electorate?
Most likely no. The Socialist Party has not yet received full power and has not exhausted the trust of voters. The socialists have difficult battles ahead with the right, and their chances of victory are very high. If they get all the levers of governing the country, then their competitors on the left will not be envied.
The leaders of the “Civil Congress” Mark Tkachuk, Iurie Muntean, Zurab Todua are experienced politicians who went through the PCRM school and saw with their own eyes the rapid decline and actual death of the once most powerful political force in Moldova. Such an experience is worth a lot, and they are unlikely to want to experience the “shipwreck” again. However, these people believe in the leftist idea and, judging by the “Action Plan “Moldova 2020 – 2025”, they consider the most important resource of Moldova to be an organic fusion of four cultural and linguistic communities (Roman, Turkic, East Slavic and South Slavic). Yes, it's a challenge! A challenge to the paradigm of the “second Romanian state”, which has been imposed on Moldova for three decades. But this is not a challenge to the socialists, who voiced something similar in a much clearer and sharper form.
The Moldovan voter is extremely tired of the lies of politicians. Record low turnout rates in recent election campaigns show that people no longer trust anything. And this applies not only to promises to reorient Moldova’s development vector towards Russia. This also applies to promises about European integration, unification with Romania, etc.
The people see that the European integration that has affected Romania since 2007 has not brought prosperity to the Romanians, as promised many times. Moldovans, who received a “visa-free” visa in 2014, go on exploration to Europe, and then return to get a Romanian passport and leave forever. Those who wanted to leave for Russia did so earlier. As the authors of the Action Plan rightly note, “Moldova is becoming a desert.” Is it actually possible to stop this?
The process of depopulation and degradation of the Republic of Moldova did not begin yesterday. It started with the moment “suitcase, station, Russia” and with “the history of the Romanians”. This process is supported artificially and controlled from behind the Rod. The only beneficiary of the policy of depopulation of territories can only be Romania. And this, no doubt, is well known to the leaders of the Citizens' Congress. But in the “Action Plan” there is not a word about Romania and “uniri”, there is almost nothing about Russia and the European Union, there is no geopolitics at all.
What are the leaders of the “Civil Congress” counting on? A party without a leader, a leftist idea without dogmatism, openness to the West, East, South and North, emphasis on education, technology, ecology. It seems that the “Civil Congress” is being created precisely for the protest electorate, for people disillusioned with politics, who want to work quietly and earn a normal living, who do not want to make a choice between Romania and Russia. The number of such voters in Moldova is growing, judging by the last parliamentary elections, more than half of those who could, but did not want to vote. There is a high probability that the Citizens Congress will raise part of this seemingly lost electorate.”
According to Igor Shornikov, after the appearance of the “Civil Congress”, it is worth worrying about Renato Usatii’s “Our Party” and the “Shor” party, which at one time attracted the depoliticized part of the left electorate. The expert notes that they are both leader-type parties, which are built around charismatic leaders who do not, however, offer any balanced ideology, and with the advent of the “Civil Congress”, the time of such politicians may be a thing of the past.
Deputy Director of the ISPIRR Andrei Mospanov suggested that the “Civil Congress” in the medium term will not become the leading party on the left flank, but at the next parliamentary elections in Moldova in 2023 (if nothing “early” happens) it may well win 6–8% of the votes . At the same time, mostly people living in cities will vote for the Civil Code - young people, middle-aged voters, and the intelligentsia.
“The creators of the “Civil Congress” strongly emphasize that this is a “party of collective action” and that this is the first party formation that has abandoned chiefdom and individual leadership. That is, we see some kind of innovative political strategy (or at least an attempt to implement it), says Andrey Mospanov. – The approach is certainly interesting. However, it is still difficult to say how winning it can become. Society in Moldova, as well as in Transnistria, is quite conservative, patriarchal, still gravitating towards a submissive political culture, towards traditional types of political leadership, relying on a “strong hand” and a “strong and generous master”. From this point of view, President Igor Dodon, for example, will be much closer to the heart of the average Moldovan voter than the creators of the Civil Code.”
The expert draws attention to the fact that much of the new project is taken from the PCRM.
“Former members of the Moldovan parliament Mark Tkachuk, Iurie Muntean and Zurab Todua, who today play a large role in the Civil Code, were once prominent figures in the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova, but the PCRM largely rested on the sole leadership [in the person of Vladimir Voronin]. This sole leadership, however, ultimately ruined her. In the political project of the Civil Code today, by the way, dreams of a “better”, “new” PCRM are reflected, which the “Mark Tkachuk group” failed to achieve in Vladimir Voronin’s PCRM in the late 2010s - early XNUMXs.
There is another question - the Civil Code announced that it will be a party “without leaderism,” but will it not happen that in the absence of a single leader, for example, the “triumvirate” will have an informal but decisive influence in the party (the already mentioned Tkachuk, Muntean and Todua)? In our opinion, those who today point out such a danger are not entirely wrong: in the Civil Code, instead of the “individual Voronin,” a “collective Voronin” may appear,” argues Andrei Mospanov.
He notes that many of the ideas that were previously promoted by the PCRM can be seen in the “Action Plan “Moldova 2020 – 2025”, in which “the ideological influence of Vladimir Voronin’s ex-adviser Mark Tkachuk is felt.” These are echoes of the “40 Cities Project” (the “Action Plan” states that in regional centers and small towns it is necessary to form “at least 40 anchor projects that can become points of economic and general humanitarian growth, changing the regional economic profile, creating jobs highly qualified"), and proposals to elect, through the direct expression of the will of citizens, judges of the Supreme Court of Justice, the Constitutional Court, the Prosecutor General, the head of the Central Election Commission, the head of the audiovisual coordinating council, the head of the Accounts Chamber (in 2012, the PCRM proposed even more - to directly elect municipal and district police commissioners, members of the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Moldova and the Audiovisual Coordination Council, as well as members of the Supreme Council of Prosecutors and the Accounts Chamber).
“The clear advantage of the Action Plan of the Civil Code is its reliance on participatory democracy and inclusive political and economic institutions. The downside of the document is perhaps its excessive journalistic nature; The section devoted to the economic modernization of the Republic of Moldova also looks weak and unconvincing. And it (along with a purely political program) should be the main and most deeply developed. In particular, it should contain an answer to the question of where budget revenues will come from to implement the social policy contained in the Action Plan.
“Eurocommunism”, modernization, justice, the cult of scientific knowledge and the “green revolution” for Moldova are all, of course, great, but at the same time the “Action Plan” bypasses a number of pressing and important issues. These are relations with Romania and Romanian influence in Moldova; relations of Moldova with the USA and NATO; political and legal formula for resolving relations with Transnistria. The “Civil Congress” cannot escape these questions in the current Moldovan reality - answers may have to be given in the near future,” the expert concluded.
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