Electoral debates // Independent candidate of Moldova unveils priorities of electoral programme

Chisinau, 18 October /MOLDPRES/ - The Moldova 1public TV station has finished the round of electoral debates for the presidential elections due on 20 October. The last two candidates registered by the Central Electoral Commission (CEC), Tudor Ulianovschi and Natalia Morari, were invited to the stage of discussions on 17 October.      

The debates were held with a single candidate – Natalia Morari, for reasons that Tudor Ulianovschi failed to come to the programme, moderator Radu Osipov said. Independent candidate Natalia Morari presented her vision and the priorities of her electoral programme.    

Natalia Morari, independent candidate: „Dear fellow countrymen, dear friends, I am Natalia Morari, I am 40 years old and I run for the office of president. I run for this position, as just as many of you, for many years in a row, I opted for democratic changes in Moldova and four years ago, just as many of you, I hoped that these changes came. Yet, we have got the greatest disappointment. During four years, our country has impoverished even more. We have a double burden, (…) public debt for us, which each of you will pay, including me. As many as 230,000 people left; the businesses closed and not from good living. I come to this campaign to suggest that we get rid of this thinking of slaves, who always expect a master to come to take care of us. Nobody will take care of us. Let us increase our economy and become equal partners for our foreign partners.’’      

Radu Osipov, moderator, Moldova 1: Two important powers – the foreign policy and defence; if you are elected to this office, whom would you regard as strategic partners and who pose threats for Moldova?

Natalia Morari, independent candidate: „My principal strategic partner, in my capacity of president, will be the people of Moldova. The fact that we are proposed, through most TV stations, a single agenda, which suits the governors, to speak about the external threats and to speak about the hybrid wars, this is an imitation of the democracy, as the real problems are avoided by most mass media from Moldova. The true problems; I go to the territory, I visited practically all districts; I discuss with people. You should know that I do not hear from them about hybrid wars, external danger. I hear from them about miserable salaries. (…) The major problem is that 230,000 people left the country, most of whom have ages between 18 and 45 years. These are young people, young families, who leave for other countries and increase the economies of other countries. I do not understand why we should speak about other subjects and not about this. About the fact that businesses closed in Moldova; leave for the Romanian market. Foreign investors leave us not because there is war in the neighbour country.’’         

Radu Osipov, moderator, Moldova 1: Is Ukraine’s victory in this war in the interest of Moldova or not?

Natalia Morari, independent candidate: „I want to think about the national interest of Moldova, but not of the neighbour countries. I very much hope that the war in Ukraine will end as quickly as possible, but I think about the future of my country. I do not understand why I, in my capacity of president, should think about the others, when our people become impoverished. The principal danger for Moldova stays the poverty, for which the people flee the country. The people do not connect their future with our country and we speak about external dangers. I do not deny that there are external dangers; as long as we are a weak, under-developed state, with a weak economy, being poor and being permanently dependent on foreign factors to survive, we even cannot speak about the greatest dangers. This is the greatest danger.’’      

Presidential elections and a constitutional referendum on accession to the European Union will take place in Moldova on 20 October. Eleven electoral contenders compete for the Moldovan president’s office.