Without political "nerve". Transnistria is preparing for elections
An election campaign has begun in Transnistria to elect deputies to the Supreme Soviet of the 29th convocation and local councils. The single voting day is set for November XNUMX.
This election will be different from previous ones. As a result of the reform, the number of deputy mandates at all levels was significantly reduced. The number of seats in parliament decreased from 43 to 33. In addition, during the inter-election period, serious amendments were made to the Election Code of the Republic regarding the turnout threshold for elections and requirements for candidates.
Deputy Director of the Institute of Socio-Political Research and Regional Development (Tiraspol), Andrey Mospanov, spoke about the features of the current Transnistrian election campaign and the prospects for the work of representative bodies of power in Transnistria in the next five years in an interview with PolitNavigator.
PolitNavigator: Elections to the Supreme Council and local councils of Transnistria will be held in 2020 according to new rules - the number of districts, and accordingly, deputies, is significantly reduced, the voter turnout threshold has been abolished. How justified is all this?
Andrey Mospanov: Let's split your question into two parts. Regarding the nearly 25% reduction in the number of districts, and therefore the reduction of the Supreme Council of the PMR to 33 members, we believe this step is justified.
In 2000, when amendments to the Constitution of the PMR were adopted, making the parliament unicameral and establishing its current, still active strength of 43 deputies, the population of Transnistria, according to local statistics, was 650 thousand people. Now, 20 years later, it is 465 thousand. That is, in order to maintain the standards of representation at the 2000 level, today, by and large, we need 31 deputies of the Supreme Council.
As for lifting the voter turnout threshold for declaring elections valid (until mid-2018, this threshold was 25% – editor's note) , that's a moot point. Of course, one could argue that participation in elections is an individual right, not an obligation. But that's from a legal perspective. From a political perspective, the turnout threshold was a significant mobilizing factor for both citizens and politicians.
If, in the conditions of international unrecognition of the PMR, the turnout for the elections turns out to be too low, then there will be many ill-wishers who will ask: who do the Transnistrian authorities even represent?
PolitNavigator: After the 2016 presidential elections in the republic, in fact, there are no internal political contradictions, all branches of government act in tandem, the opposition is very weak, if not to say that it does not exist at all. Is it possible to assume that parliamentary and local elections will be a cakewalk for the largest and in fact the only Transnistrian party “Renewal” and its supporters?
Andrey Mospanov: Yes, the Obnovlenie party is on track to win these elections decisively. Indeed, there's no one left to win them. This will be a match in which only one team will take the field. Over the past five years, the republic's political landscape has become very homogeneous—political discussions are now confined to social media.
However, this does not mean that the elections will be a cakewalk for Obnovlenye. In some constituencies, however, some alternative candidates are being planned. “Renovationist” candidates will have to listen to voters’ complaints and claims. This is especially true for those who are deputies of the current convocation, are nominated for a new term, but, let’s say, have not paid the necessary attention to their constituency in recent years.
One of the main challenges in this election will again be ensuring voter turnout. Here we return to our first question. The upcoming election campaign has no political “nerve”, and some may think like this: why go to the polls when it’s already clear who will win, and my vote doesn’t decide anything? Or why go to the polls if over the last 15-20 years the same candidates have been nominated time after time and the life of the population has not changed for the better? We hear these phrases from voters more often today than before.
PolitNavigator: Aren’t “greenhouse” conditions (when there are no political competitors) harmful for candidates for deputies, politicians, and in general for the education of leaders?
Andrey Mospanov: Overly "hothouse" conditions are harmful to everyone, especially politicians. Without competition, political structures stagnate and ultimately lose their sense of reality, flexibility, and effectiveness. And even ruling parties are not immune to this.
If there is no serious external competition, then it is necessary to create at least an internal competitive environment. In United Russia, for example, since 2007 there have been primaries and internal party elections for this purpose - a practice that the Pridnestrovian Renewal can pay attention to.
PolitNavigator: In the current convocation of the Supreme Council, we did not observe many discussions and disputes on bills; voting, as a rule, went smoothly and in an orderly manner. Should we expect that the importance of parliament as a forum for debate where different points of view should be presented will continue to decline? How different is the current Transnistrian parliament from the Supreme Council of the first convocations that worked during the formation of the republic?
Andrey Mospanov: Yes, over the past five years, the Supreme Council of the PMR's importance as a forum for debate has steadily declined. The parliament's work back in 2017-2018 (when live video broadcasts of its sessions were available for everyone to watch) and today are quite different.
It can be predicted that the future Supreme Council of the seventh convocation will be the most “quiet” in comparison with previous parliamentary compositions. The Transnistrian legislative body today has ceased to be the main political newsmaker and is increasingly working as a kind of “board of directors”, approving, in general, already agreed upon decisions. And this trend will obviously continue.
The current parliament and the Supreme Council of the 90s differ, first of all, in their social composition. The first two parliamentary convocations included those who, in one way or another, participated in the creation of the Transnistrian state, and these were different people, from different social groups. Accordingly, the atmosphere was more democratic. Today the Supreme Council consists almost entirely of people associated with large and medium-sized businesses. And in the future convocation this homogeneity will only increase.
PolitNavigator: Some experts talk about the need to hold elections in Transnistria according to the party system or introduce a mixed model of elections. Is this possible in the republic, at least theoretically, or is it only a majority vote?
Andrey Mospanov: This is a large topic, one that certainly deserves a separate discussion, and here we'll outline just a few points. For us to hold elections under a proportional or mixed system, we need a well-established system of political parties. This doesn't even exist yet, even in its infancy. The Transnistrian Ministry of Justice's website states that 10 parties are registered in the PMR. But seven of them are only listed there, in the Ministry of Justice's registry; the other two parties are more likely to be dead than alive.
It is important that the party system arises not only “from above”, but also “from below”; in an evolutionary way, and not through political technology manipulations; so that parties have real public support. Yes, perhaps it is necessary to soften the requirements of Transnistrian legislation regarding the number of political parties; but at the same time, you see, they cannot consist of 10-20 people.
According to our observations, today in Transnistrian society there is no noticeable demand for party membership.
Taking this into account, it does not make much sense for Pridnestrovie to abandon the majoritarian election system. Its main advantage in our conditions is that a deputy cannot hide behind a party façade and make some abstract political statements. He must maintain direct contact with his constituents and respond to specific requests. And the voter again knows exactly who to ask.
PolitNavigator: Many Transnistrian parliamentarians, often together with deputies of local councils, are directly involved in solving municipal and everyday problems of citizens, and most people already take this for granted, criticizing deputies who do not repair roofs or paint benches in their districts. Is this a Transnistrian tradition?
Andrey Mospanov: Yes, one of the electoral imperatives today is this: a deputy who doesn't fix things and paint things is a bad deputy. Over the past 20-25 years, this has become a tradition, and I think it will be difficult for voters, candidates, and deputies to break with it. This is probably also due to the small size of our country, where local issues are difficult to separate from national ones.
Today we see that even those parliamentarians who are far from the sphere of housing and communal services and landscaping, whose main area of activity is political analysis, even they buy paint and personally deliver it throughout their district. Whatever one may say, in Transnistria this is a necessary element of the election campaign.
PolitNavigator: How can you evaluate the work of the local councils of Transnistria - the authorities of the unrecognized republic, the most legitimate in the eyes of the world community?
Andrey Mospanov: Local councils today are somewhat following the path and fate of the Supreme Council. The voices of their deputies are no longer as audible as they were in the 90s, during the period of Transnistrian state-building. I'd like to see this change, since city, district, and village deputies are the closest to voters.
English version :: Read in English: Without political "nerve." Transnistria prepares for elections