Moldovan president says everybody can contribute to elections to be fair, with results in favour of Moldovans

Chisinau, 6 September /MOLDPRES/ - President Maia Sandu, at a TV programme on 5 September evening, referred to achievements of Moldova during those four years since the taking over of the mandate of president. The head of state reviewed more projects implemented and reiterated that Moldova had made unexpected progress on the European integration path. Maia Sandu said that she had no regrets that she had worked every day with self-denial and responsibility.  

Maia Sandu said that this had been a mandate during which many nice and good things had happened, but also a mandate with many difficult situations.

„I think that everybody had seen that I was an active and honest-minded president on this period; along with the government and parliament, I initiated transformations in more sectors and we succeeded in many of them. In some fields, we succeeded less.   

I want to say several things which I regard as important, for instance – the investments which we make in our settlements, as I made a quite clear commitment in 2020, that I will contribute to the substantial increase in investments in projects in villages and cities. We made quite big investments as compared to the years before. This means 600 km of street illumination, 700 km of aqueduct, 125 km of sewerage. This means 200 schools and kindergartens repaired, many community centres, sports fields.

We created a network of medical assistance centres for cases of cerebral vascular accidents - a quite big problem for Moldova. The problem because of which many people die and now we have 13 centres all over the country, endowed with the most modern apparatus and which have already started saving human lives. We made investments in more district hospitals and in two maternity hospitals.     

There are concrete things which we made also in the energy sector, a very difficult sector, where we faced a quite big crisis. And in the full swing of this crisis, we had to do things which we had not done for 30 years. We managed to release the country from the dependence on a single provider of natural gas.   

There are nice things in each sector, as well as in the education sector, where 500 million lei was invested in universities and colleges. As we know that, if the universities are better, then more young people will choose to study in Moldova and will have chance to remain at home after the faculty.   

We managed to rehabilitate 700 km of road and we believe that this is a good achievement; yet, at the same time, there are many other roads which still must be repaired. I have even a note book with roads which must be repaired – demands at meetings with citizens and obviously we wanted to be able to repair more,’’ Maia Sandu said.    

The Moldovan president also said that Moldova had unexpected success in the case of the European integration; as for the fight against corruption, we cannot say the same thing.

„We made several commitments of principle: getting the country out of international isolation and advancement on the European integration way. We made unexpected steps, as I do not think that, four years ago, somebody would have believed that Moldova would hold negotiations with the European Union for accession. We managed to edify friendships, relations and partnerships with a lot of countries; so, I do not think that Moldova has ever had a more active foreign policy. As for the justice reform, it is true that the things did not happen quickly enough and good enough. This is a situation which we recognize. But this occurred not because we wanted this or this was not a priority and if not daily, then weekly, I discussed with state’s institutions and we were looking for solutions.    

The things have moved; if we take a list with the most odious judges who were in Moldova in 2016-2017 and compare this with what we have in the system at present, you will see that most of the corrupt ones left the system, however. Now, it is true that we do not have concrete results on files, but we must finish this process of cleaning the system. We belied, hoped, just as the citizens, that we would be able to do the things quicker, but the way on which we move now is a correct way. We have managed to clean a part of the system; we must continue the cleaning in the system. And so, when the cleaning is over, we will have certainty that the thieves will not be able to make deals with one or another judge, that the judges will no longer take bribe when taking decisions, but will take decisions under the law.     

This is a complicated reform, but the important thing is that we do not stop moving. Now, we have a single case in which a thief was convicted and  unfortunately, he was protected by other states and do not get to be imprisoned. We see that the files’ consideration is postponed, as we still do not a critical number of correct and courageous judges. We also see situations when judges seem to be correct, but they do not have courage. I think that the composition of the judicial inspection must be changed too, but it takes time for all these institutions to be cleaned and to start working. I said that the disappointments must not let this reform stop; we must insist to carry it through. There is no textbook either for Moldova or for other example. Certainly, that we have learned on the fly; we tried in one way when we see that the things were not going well; we tried in another way; we consulted with the others, but this is a process,’’ Maia Sandu also said.  

Asked if, at the end of mandate, she has some regrets, the head of state said that she had worked every day with self-denial and with responsibility.

Maia Sandu also referred to her registration in the electoral race. The president noted that she was not member of the Action and Solidarity Party and during the electoral campaign her entire team would be relieved from the duties of their positions. The head of state also said that she would neither use the job vehicle for the electoral events. ‘’During the campaign, I will use another car but the job one. I will also limit the public actions which might be described as electoral actions. When the campaign starts, the rules change, even if there are no quite clear rules written in our legislation, but it is a matter of common sense for us to undertake all measures, so that there are no any charges. The team due to work with me will be relieved from the job duties, as in their case, this is allowed by the law. So, I will do my utmost so that there are no conflicts and there are no interpretations that I use the office on campaign purpose,’’ the Moldovan president said.      

As for the phenomenon of corrupting the voters, the president stressed that the state’s institutions worked and even if this happened at the elections in the Gagauz autonomy, subsequently these attempt no longer worked.

„I want the citizens to know that the parliament has recently approved a law, under which the fine for those willing to sell their vote is 25,000-30,000 lei. For this reason, I kindly ask them to think, as no bribe due to be given to them by those who try to buy the vote can cover such a serious fine. I want to make a call to the citizens, no matter their political option, to come to the elections on 20 October to vote for the president, to vote at the referendum, as the Moldovans are the ones who must decide their fate. We know that there are risks, the state’s institutions have warned us. Now, it is up to us whether we want to let these risks be stronger than our votes. Anyway, the institutions will do their job; yet, we see this in more developed states with strong institutions, where the Kremlin’s misinformation and propaganda comes and influences the results of the elections. There is no a magical solution or a policy which we can enforce and which is to solve this problem. All of us can contribute for these elections to be fair and their results to be in favour of the Moldovans, in favour of Moldova and not in favour of those who finance the lies and misinformation, ’’ the head of state said.         

Asked whether she would participate in the electoral discussions, Maia Sandu said she would take a decision depending on how the things would evolve.

The president urged the citizens to mobilize, in order to participate in the referendum, noting that an eventual non-validation of this plebiscite would mean a missed opportunity.

The head of state also touched upon the resilience, the cooperation with Romania, the Transnistrian problem. She reiterated that none of the Metropolitan Sees would be closed in Moldova.