The Role of Religion in Moldovan Populist Mobilization Strategies: A Competition between Traditional and Religious Values?

ABSTRACT

The article contributes to the study of the relationship between religion and populist mobilization strategies of non–right-wing-populist actors in the post-Soviet space. It analyzes how religious references are employed to appeal to voters’ collective identities in the Republic of Moldova. The analysis of two Moldovan parties’ electoral campaigns in 2019–2020 highlights how notions of “religious values” and “traditional values” are used to evoke the “cultural toolkit.” By stressing the homogeneity of voters or the dichotomy between “the people” and “the elite,” the parties tie their religious references to different geopolitical narratives and society’s sets of core values.

Disclosure Statement

The author declares that there are no relevant financial or non-financial competing interests to report.

Notes

1. Bessarabia formed part of Greater Romania from 1918 to 1944 with the exception of the years 1940–1941.

2. The policy of korenizatsiia (“indigenization” or “nativization”) during the 1920s promoted representatives of non-Russian nationalities into leading positions in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the local government, and the nomenklatura of their national entities. It formed part of the Soviet authorities’ attempts to further the development of distinct national cultures to gain the support of ethnically non-Russian regions during the interwar period (Liber 1991).

3. According to Article 112(2) of the Moldovan Electoral Code, “the term of office of the President of the Republic is incompatible with membership in a political party” (Timpul 2020). Former president Igor Dodon therefore declared that he would run as an independent candidate in the presidential elections in 2020. However, as the PSRM officially and publicly supported his candidacy and PSRM deputy Vlad Batrîncea headed his initiative group, Dodon is considered here as the PSRM’s unofficial candidate in 2020.

4. The PPPDA and the Party of Action and Solidarity constituted the NOW Platform DA and PAS (ACUM) in 2019 and participated jointly in the parliamentary and local elections.

5. Since 2016, the Moldovan president has been directly elected by Moldovan citizens.

6. Law No. 5 on Ensuring Equal Opportunities for Women and Men does not refer to sexual minorities or discrimination based on sexual orientation (Ministerul Justiţiei 2006). Therefore, the author assumes that the PSRM is referring to the removal of sexual orientation as a protected ground in the context of employment in Law 121 on Ensuring Equality (Ministerul Justiţiei 2012).

7. In June 2018, the Supreme Court of Justice declared the elections void due to the violation of election silence on the election day by Andrei Năstase and Ion Ceban, and new local elections for the general mayor in Chişinău were announced for 2019 (ADEPT [Asociaţia pentru Democraţie Participativă] 2018b).

8. The survey referred only to male homosexuals since other sexual minorities were not mentioned by survey participants. It can therefore be assumed that other sexual minorities could not be imagined living in Moldova (Voicu, Cash, and Cojocariu 2017, 46).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the North Karelia Regional Fund under Grant no. 55211451.