The Moldovan authorities have been trying for some time to demonstrate a team game. The president’s regime succeeds in mimicing “political stability”, “ensuring loyalty” and “maintaining neutrality” and “Moldovan identity”. The only problem is that stability, loyalty and identity are artificially promoted and kept in the sights by the media affiliated with the socialists and the ardent propagandists of the presidential regime. Moreover, in these and all other aspects of government, the current crisis has revealed an absolute disorganisation with regard to both Dodon and his ruling coalition and the cabinet of technocrats. The pandemic reflected, in fact, the inefficiency of Dodon’s political model, which did not strengthen, but rather from the image of government.
The transformation that the political regime in Chisinau is currently undergoing because of the crisis that has occurred may seem unprecedented but unprecedented, rather, other circumstances can be called – the global pandemic and the way (not) the government is coping with it. Changes in the government of the Republic of Moldova are constantly taking place, but on the current crisis the regime has started to function differently, gradually forming a threat to its own future. During this period, new issues have come to light that it is impossible not to see.
Disorganization
This week’s Covid-19 infection curve has reached highs, setting a new negative record of 478 infections in 24 hours, bringing the total to 13,000. In the meantime, the company is discussing the possibility of a return to restrictive measures, as people still do not comply with the sanitary conditions in the markets, public transport and the streets. Meanwhile, the statements of the authorities have become increasingly disturbing..
In the fight against coronavirus, the Moldovan authorities could not agree on a single strategy, on the common criteria for assessing the situation, nor on coordination in general. It is obvious that the Government’s strategy to stop the pandemic has failed. Many mistakes have been made and some have irreversible consequences.
We cannot teleport three months ago and annul the parliamentary elections in Hâncești. We can’t stop running a fake on TV channels that the opposition would call on fellow citizens infected with coronavirus to come home. We cannot stop the head of state’s movement strapped through the country in the midst of a pandemic without respecting the established rules, kissing the necks and clasping the hands of veterans, and then talking about the “irresponsibility of citizens”. It is impossible not to propose a moratorium on political disputes during the pandemic, and then to damage relations with Romania (which sent doctors to help) or to accuse the opposition of incapacity topay pensionsand salaries, linking to the Russian loan, which implied non-transparent and illegal conditions. This is not the whole list and can be continued, as the epidemic in Moldova is not yet over.
When we talk about President Dodon, we should generally avoid phrases such as ‘course’, ‘strategy’ or ‘coordination’. These words were not only “decommissioned”, nor were they included during his tenure. In 2016, the president made promises he could have honored – if there were truly such priorities.
Which means a vision of the future, it disappeared as soon as Dodon became a hostage of the past. He has reached a certain end point, which leads to nowhere. The opposition will say it’s the finish line. The president will answer, it’s an order set. In any case, Dodon’s actions during the pandemic were at the expense of his own fictitious achievements, which are so promoted by the television stations First in Moldova, NTV or Accent. Therefore, the better Dodon looks in the eyes of the people, the worse the situation in the country. Igor Dodon used to believe that the more often he flies to Moscow towards Putin or praises the Lukashenko regime and thanks authoritarian states for humanitarian assistance, the higher his rating.
It creates the impression, in times of crisis, that the president has decided to give up his responsibilities, putting them on the shoulders of Prime Minister Chicu and the Ministry of Health, while trying to create the impression that he is a caring president, who walks around the country, despite the pandemic, trying to help people. Dodon is not bothered by the fact that such self-realization is detrimental to doctors who already constitute 15% of the number of coronavirus infections.
“People trust politicians who are always close to people. I connect directly with hundreds or even thousands of people every week, even in a pandemic. I’m not afraid to talk to an ordinary person, visit a veteran or visit a hospital. Look at my opponents, Maa Sandu even wears a mask during the press conference, although there is no one in public,” the president brags.
Despite the president’s shaky stance under the current circumstances, the president’s apparatus and the media controlled by the Socialists are still trying to find a profit in this position or invent it on the go, becoming from their own red lines. It seems that the President does not understand how contradictory and ambiguous his statements and visits are, which, in his opinion, give people a sense of rapprochement with the leader. The truth is that all people can get from this attitude is at best a deceitful feeling and not in any case any material. Propaganda labs interpret this in their own way, serving the needs of the president, creating a favorable informational background for this year’s upcoming presidential elections.
Adapt and drive
The lack of a clear course results in the fact that key figures, which serve the needs of the President, must adapt to his requirements. At the same time, the requirements themselves cannot be questioned or adapted either to the law or to reality.
An eloquent example of this is the Prime Minister’s statements, which change from day to day. He desperately declares that hospital availability is still valid for another five days, but says there are still places. According to Dodon, who tried to console the people, Chicu returns with narratives such as: the mortality rate caused by coronavirus in Moldova is 3% of the total number of deaths, and our country is quite OK compared to other EU countries.
The same can be said of Health Minister Viorica Dumbrăveanu, who in March, when the country already had more than 20 cases of infection, “would have wanted to postpone the elections in Hâncești” – a potential outbreak of infection. But why be postponed if Stefan Gatscan of the PSRM could have won and won. It was only after that that he had to declare quarantine in several villages and introduce a state of emergency.
Due to the fact that Igor Dodon does not want to break into the daily routine, almost all his indications are superficial and poorly executed. Thus the elections of Hâncești took place. In the context of the crisis, a new alliance between the PSRM-DPM was created and dubious negotiations were held on the Russian loan, which later became a media manipulation platform owned by the Socialists. The opposition, which complained about the illegality of the loan and the opacity of the terms in which the negotiations took place, became a scapegoat. Chicu said the introduction of new restrictions was impossible because of “irresponsible opponents.” Before the Constitutional Court’s decision, the prime minister and the president speculated speculat that unless there was a Russian loan, it would be impossible to pay pensions and salaries in June.
President or Commander?
Dodon has lately focused on history and geopolitics. More specifically, on that part which corresponds to its views on the restoration of the strategic partnership with the Russian Federation. Dodon recently supported his closeness and sympathy for authoritarian leaders through his desire to establish a presidential republic in Moldova.
“If we had a presidential republic, then I would punch in the mass and immediately solve the problem with the prosecutor, the judge and the prime minister. But we don’t have a presidential republic. If I had the chance, I would have shown them “Kuzkina mati” a long time ago. For example, in the United States there is the presidential form of government, in Belarus – the same. So if the president said it, the conversation was over,” Dodon said.
As a leader prone to authoritarianism and boasting about his ties to Putin, Erdogan and Lukashenko, Dodon knows how to use the army and history to his advantage, as does Putin, who has been accused of historic revisionism. Dodon apparently shares the Kremlin leader’s point of view, not for nothing is he going to fly to the Victory Parade, which, despite the pandemic, will take place on June 24 in Red Square.
Post Scriptum:
“It is difficult to ask ideology not to be an ideology,” Merab Mamarasvvili said in the 10th Vilnius lecture in the summer of 1981 on social philosophy. It is the same with propaganda: it is difficult to ask not to be a lie and not to possess such properties. Moreover, since the Cold War, propaganda has changed a lot, evolved, mastered new technologies and entire markets. Previously, the propaganda machine closed mouths, censored texts. Now, in the new world – in the post-truth world – you can say anything. It is an amalgam of facts, post-facts and opinions, so it is difficult for a man to distinguish truthful information from a manipulative forgery. Informational noise enters the information market and defeats the consumer.
If, for example, today, in all the media affiliated with the Party of Socialists, they say that the West, the opposition and, in general, all the political opponents of the PSRM are fooling you and that without a Russian loan we will lose the ability to pay pensions and salaries, and who otherwise claims, does not see how profitable and fruitful Moldova’s relations with Russia are, he would rather believe the new version of the fake , than official investigation materials. It’s a matter of faith. Faith is an emotion. Even official documents are not always able to overcome the emotion.