Called to the polls on Sunday, October 20, 2 million Moldovans will choose between an outgoing president whose political project is to link the country to the European Union (EU) and ten candidates, most of whom are oriented to varying degrees towards the old Russian Mr. . To attract voters to the polling stations, particularly the 200,000 votes from the diaspora, Maia Sandu, 52, was broadly in favor of a referendum on the country’s accession to the EU, alongside the presidential vote.
“I will vote for yes [au référendum]but I have not yet decided which candidate I will vote for in the presidential elections »explains Liolia Rusu, 59, a daycare worker in Anenii Noi, a small, mainly wine-producing town southeast of the capital, Chisinau. Accompany a colleague to a meeting of the main opposition candidate, Alexandr Stoianoglo, organized on Tuesday, October 15 in the late afternoon. “We don’t really know this candidate, we try to listen to everyone. Voting is important, I don’t miss any election. “It is our future that is being decided.”continues Natalia Nemerenco, 55 years old. They both dream of “We live like in Europe, where we live better than here” !
An absent youth
The two women form one of the groups that converge towards the House of Culture. Before reaching the building, the crowd passes by a huge statue of Lenin, now rare in Moldova, with a vacant look and arms hanging down. Inside, all the seats are occupied, hundreds of white heads, while youth is conspicuous by its absence. A campaign newspaper is distributed to the public, entirely in Russian, although the country’s official language is Romanian.
Alexandr Stoianoglo, 57, candidate of the Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova, takes the microphone after waiting a bit. Some applause encourages him. Credited with 9% of voting intentions, the man wears an elegant suit, stands out from the public and dresses very modestly. His face has a severe appearance, a very long nose, a little flattened in the middle like that of a boxer, which ends in a wide and slightly crooked mouth that gives him an ironic pout. He begins by introducing himself in Romanian but, after a few minutes, this former prosecutor explains in Russian that he will speak in both languages. Then he completely stops speaking Romanian, which is not his native language.
“It is companies that must boost the country’s economy and support social assistance. When I was appointed prosecutor, we arrested 1,000 businessmen a year. Not because they were committing crimes, but to extort them.”affirms the candidate, who quickly moves on to the burning issue of security, marking his difference with the outgoing president. “We will develop the neutrality status [inscrite dans la Constitution moldave de 1994]. So we will never be dragged into a war. There are no bases or military exercises here! » Murmurs of approval in the room.
You have 62.56% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
