Exchange of ministers as a matter of urgency: What is the explanation?

Alexandru Arseni, university professor, doctor

In a society ruled by authoritarian forces, anything is possible, including emergency reshuffles in the Government. Is it like the change of two-2019 governments Sandu or Chicu hasn’t been the same? Dodon knows he will lose the election and is looking for rescue. His hope now is to attract the six-percent votes of the Shor Party and the support of the new parliamentary group “For Moldova”. Dodon hopes to win the elections in this way, after which, together with controversial politicians and businessmen Plahotniuc and Shor, to create a parliamentary majority, through which to control the Government and block Sandu’s activity as president. If the electorate does not understand that Dodon is preparing to bring Plahotniuc and Shor back into politics, all will remain unchanged.

Lilian Carp, deputy

Monday’s incident in the Government was not unexpected. Several actions in the last two months confirm the rumors about the existence of a secret agreement of the Dodon-Plahotniuc-Shor triumvirate. The deal starts with the return to office of Vladislav Clima (Chairman of the Chișinău Court of Appeal) and other corrupt judges. They were loyal to Plahotniuc, and the annulment of the immunity of the deputies of the Shor Party – Tauber and Apostolova, accused of involvement in the theft of the billion. Former head of the Parliament Pavel Filip recognized that there is a collaboration between President Dodon, former leader of the Democrat Party of Moldova Vladimir Plahotniuc, and Shor Party of Moldova’s leader Ilan Shor. The fugitives’ statement from Pro-Moldova parliamentary fraction party, who announced the conception of parliamentary platform “For Moldova ” together with the Shor Party, is also revealing. I do not rule out that an alliance is being set up between the Party of Socialists (PSRM) and this so-called platform, behind which Dodon wants to hide his relationship with the primary beneficiaries of the stolen one billion dollars.

Mariana S. Țăranu, historian

Moldova is a state with two control centers: one in Moscow and another in Chișinău. Since the disintegration of the Soviet Union, power in the former union republics (except the Baltic States) has been taken over by the same communist personnel, anchored in left or center-left parties and involved in all sorts of political and geopolitical scenarios, depending on Russia’s interests. In the current situation the balance of the political vector of Moldova depends on the results of the presidential elections, political parties of the Democrats’ and the Socialists’ are trying to do fake crises in their relationship. The revoking of ministers diverts attention from the discussion and analysis of voting fraud in the first round of elections. As for their platform agreements, I think there are sterile discussions to divert attention from the second round.

Ion Tăbârță, political analyst

The “voluntary” withdrawal of Democrats from the Government formalized the political divorce between the Democrat Party and the Party of Socialists. It is an intermediate phase of reconfiguring the Parliament’s political forces, with a new parliamentary majority in support of the Chicu Government, led by socialist president Dodon. The Democrat Party’s exit from the Government is due to the Chicu Government’s voting in November 2019 and the constant loss of Democrat Party’s members in the parliament. Thus, during the summer, 2020, the Chicu Government was left without a formalized parliamentary majority. The executive is on the verge of dismissal. The signals of backstage contacts and discussions between president Dodon and fugitive oligarch Plahotniuc began to resurface. They are even believed to have met in Greece a few months ago. Consequently, the political Shor Party- one of the fugitive oligarch Shor’s political projects, radically changed its rhetoric towards Dodon and the Socialists. Towards the end of the election campaign, at the initiative of several former democratic deputies, detached from the “Pro Moldova” Party, the parliamentary platform “For Moldova” was created, which was immediately joined by the Shor faction. It is expected a new formalized parliamentary majority after the second round of the presidential elections, consisting of the Party of Socialists and the so-called “For Moldova” platform.