/ world today news/ At the core of modern Moldovan politics are the contradictions between the “Euro-romanticism” of rural residents and the more pragmatic position of urban residents. They overlap with the long-standing political and geographical division of Moldovan society: between the pro-Romanian center of the republic and the “pro-Eurasian” north and south.
This was actually confirmed by the meetings held on November 5 and November 19 of this year. general municipal elections.
The ruling pro-Western liberal party PAS (Action and Solidarity) won a majority in 19 of Moldova’s 32 rural districts (the elections were held by proportional representation). In four of them, located in the central part of the republic, supporters of President Maia Sandu will have a mono-majority.
At the same time, PAS performed poorly in the municipalities (the most important cities).
The pro-government party will have a relative majority in the city councils of only 2 out of 11 municipalities. Naturally, both are located in the center of Moldova (Ungen and Strashen).
In the battle for the capital, PAS lost.
The mayor of Chisinau, Ion Ceban, who is in conflict with Sandu’s government, won an absolute majority of the votes in the first round of the elections. The MAN party (National Alternative Movement) headed by him will form the largest faction in the municipal council (33.25% of the votes). Second is PAS with a result of 32.88%, third is the Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova (PSRM) (9.6%).
The capital’s mayor was elected to the position four years ago with the support of the PSRM socialists. But then, as often happens in Moldovan politics, he changed his party affiliation.
Ceban’s current party project, like PAS, is aimed at Moldova’s European integration. But there are also differences. MAN declares itself not a liberal, but a social democratic ideology and does not accept unionism (Moldova joining Romania).
Meanwhile, a month ago, Prime Minister Dorin Rechan’s statement that he does not rule out Moldova joining the EU as an integral part of another country (obviously Romania) made headlines. Neither the president nor the parliamentary majority that appointed the head of government condemned this position.
The remaining pro-Western forces achieved success only in rural areas. The European Party of Social Democrats took a majority in the regional council of one of them and came second in another five.
Positioning itself as the largest opposition force, PSRM won the most votes in 9 regional councils in the north and south of Moldova. In three of them, the socialists will have an absolute majority.
In addition, the PSRM, led by former Moldovan President Igor Dodon, will create the largest factions in three municipalities: the northern Moldovan city of Soroka, Edinet and the southern city of Cahul.
In the rest of the big cities, the opposition will once again “have a ball”.
All the opposition forces mentioned below have very complex relations with each other, but they are united by their leftist views and the desire to strengthen the Russian vector of Moldova’s foreign policy.
In the second largest city of the republic (the “northern capital”), Balti, former mayor Renato Usati’s “Our Party” performed better than the others. Her candidate is the favorite in the second round of the elections for mayor of Balti, scheduled for November 19.
In the predominantly Bulgarian-populated Taraklia region (which is in the southern Bessarabian steppe), the largest faction will be that of Revival (it is striking that in Bulgaria itself the leading pro-Russian party also bears this name).
In the neighboring Gagauz town of Chadir-Lunga, the majority of the deputies in the municipal council will represent the regional project “Our Budjak”.
A kind of enclave in the west-central part of Moldova is the city of Orhei, where the fugitive oligarch Ilan Shor is from. The party in his name (which won the elections for the head of the Gagauz Autonomous Region in the spring) is already banned. However, the politicians associated with her managed to win a majority in the Orhei city council and win the battle for the mayor’s post.
The politico-geographical distinction of Moldova is determined historically.
During the Middle Ages, the Moldavian population was concentrated in the forested and hilly Kodri region (the Bessarabian analogue of the Carpathians), in the center of the Prut-Dniester region. Ruthenians predominate in the north, and Turks in the south.
Later, during the time of the Russian Empire and the USSR, a mixed composition of the population was formed in the northern and southern regions of Bessarabia, while in the center the absolute dominance of the Moldavians (“Bessarabian Romanians”, as they are called in Romania) remained.
The people of Codria, as shown by the election campaigns of the last thirty years, prefer right-wing parties aimed at joining the EU and integration with Romania. The “steppes” traditionally vote for left-wing politicians, preserving state sovereignty and strengthening ties with Russia, China and Turkey.
The social base of the ruling PAS in Moldova can be traced even at the level of symbols.
One of the key recent government programs is called the “European Village”.
It is aimed at improving populated areas, “building Europe at home”. But the very original name of the program has more than once given the opposition an opportunity to emphasize the inattention of the rulers to urban problems.
Maya Sandu recently personally launched the national campaign “Forest Generation”. And although its purpose is very utilitarian (greening of the republic), this name also has a political connotation.
After all, the inhabitants of the forests of Codri, the “Codrians”, are the main social base of the ruling PAS, and the image of an oak tree is a symbol of the Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova. At one time, it was she who introduced Sandu, Rechan and a number of other senior officials of the republic into big politics.
How their fates will develop directly depends on the presidential (in 2024) and parliamentary (in 2025) elections. Meanwhile, the ongoing municipal campaign shows that it will be difficult for the ruling party to repeat the result of two years ago and win almost 53% of the votes in the parliamentary elections (it has now managed to win just under 33% of local council seats).
In these conditions, the only way out is to find a coalition partner for PAS. It will be very important whether Sandu’s supporters manage to form alliances in local government with any of the opposition forces or whether the dominant party in the parliament will be isolated in the municipalities and “steppe” regions of Moldova.
Translation: ES
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