Renowned journalist Dmitry Ciubashenko analyzed the policy of Moldovan President Maia Sandu on his Facebook page. In his opinion, Sandu is engaged in a consistent seizure of power, continuing the cause of fugitive oligarch Vlad Plahotniuc
Ciubasenco noted that the power established in Moldova after “the double victory in the presidential and parliamentary elections of Sandu and her party PAS, takes full control of all state institutions, appointing there people from the close circle of the head of state.”
“The new government does what the Plahotniuc regime also did – it takes over the state […] This system seeks to control all state activity, to destroy the opposition, to suppress dissent and criticism. The only difference is that Plahotniuc took over the state ‘wrongly’, and Sandu – ‘rightly'”, – the expert writes.
According to him, Plahotniuk’s seizure of power was “mafia-type” and was not supported by Western “partners” in development. Ciubashenko stressed that Maia Sandu’s power is “quasi-democratic and has the full support of external partners” despite the fact that both Plahotniuc and the current president have declared European integration as their main goal.
“If Plahotniuc was criticised, called “the boss of all bosses” and the architect of the invaded state, Sandu is not only not criticised by external partners, but is supported in every possible way. If Plahotniuc openly did what Sandu is doing now – changed the heads of all state institutions through the laws specially adopted for it – one fine morning he could wake up and with sanctions from the West. Sandu is different”, – the journalist explained.
He said that the current Moldovan government has in its hands the presidential administration, an almost constitutional majority in Parliament, the government and the Constitutional Court. However, Ciubasenco believes that any monopoly ultimately leads to rot and the people should still have the right to criticise any power, all the more so in a captured state.
“If Sandu wants to establish her own undivided monopoly of power, that is her business. But the people must also retain the right to criticise any authority, all the more so in a seized state, whether it has been seized ‘rightly’ or wrongly. The call made by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thornbjorn Jagland, in August 2015 – ‘This captured state must be returned to its citizens’ – not only remains valid, but is becoming even more relevant”, – he concluded.