Cuizauca's school

On 26 March 2009, the village of Cuizauca, which counts about 2,000 inhabitants, was the last station of the civic education programme “Eu votez pentru ca…”. Since for quite a long time due to a serious illness of the local trainer it was uncertain if this 19^th mock election event would take place, we were happy to get the invitation to Cuizauca and to take the bumpy street up to the Rezina district once again.

As was often the case before, the festivity hall of the village’s school served as a venue. Most of the chairs in the unheated hall were occupied by kids that went to the event immediately after their lessons, but also a considerable number of adults made its way to the school building on a Thursday afternoon. For the first time during the course of the project “Eu votez pentru ca…”, both election platforms, set up by students of Cuizauca’s school, identified the same problem as the main problem of their village that needs to be solved: the lack of sport facilities. Indeed, both groups found different solutions to this problem. This fact promised an interesting debate, during which the proposed solutions and their practicability would be in the centre of attention.

"Stadion amenajat pentru sat"

The election platform that operated under the slogan “Stadion amenajat pentru sat” (“Repaired stadium for the village”) proposed, as its slogan implies, to rearrange the sports stadium, that is, to install a new drainage system, to erect a fence in order to prevent animals from grazing on the lawn as it happens at present, and to equip the stadium with benches and suchlike. The second group called “Tinerilor Odihna Activa” (“Active Recreation for the Youth”) suggested fitting out a sports and fitness club in the village. Both groups had elaborated a sound presentation of their projects and prepared facts and arguments in order to convince the electorate.

During the debate, the local trainer time and again felt obliged to whisper the correct answers to

"Tinerilor Odihna Activa"

the respective team members, nevertheless, this seemed to be superfluous since both groups had well elaborated and reflected their projects and found answers to every question. And the audience indeed was very active and had a lot of questions. Certainly, some kids had already made a cross on their voting bulletins before the presentations started but from most of the questions you could derive that the participants tried to find out which project was more realistic, more practicable and therefore the better solution to the village’s problem. For a while, the benefit of the respective projects for pregnant women was discussed, which was one of the most controversial points during the discussion. In the end, it remained uncertain whether pregnant women benefit more from the stadium or the fitness room but other open questions – such as the financing, the admission fees or the attitude of those people whose animals are grazing on the sports field at present towards the new stadium and its fence – could be settled and the electorate was able to make its choice.

Present sports stadium

In the polls, the majority opted for repairing the stadium which was quite comprehensible if you had seen this miserable spot, i.e. stadium, next to the school building populated by ducks, gooses and goats. Apparently, the village administration had already planned to repair the sports field. Indeed, after the ballot Cuizauca’s Mayor promised that both projects would be realised. Was this a hollow election promise prior to Moldova’s Parliamentary Election? For sure, people will take him at his word…

Cimislia's art college

On 22 March 2009, the project “Eu votez pentru ca…” made stop in the district capital Cimislia, home to about 13,000 people in the south of the Republic of Moldova. It was the first time that the two election platforms were set up by students of two different schools, that is, the Liceu Teoretic Ion Creanga and the Liceu Teoretic Mihai Eminescu. To carry out the mock election event, neutral ground was chosen so that the city’s art college served as venue.

Entering the art college, from the very first beginning it became obvious that the character of Cimislia’s mock election event would differ significantly from other mock election events that had been carried out within the framework of the civic education programme “Eu votez pentru ca…”. It was more likely to be a competition between the two partaking high schools, attended by the respective administrations and a considerable amount of students, than an event dedicated to raise voter participation and democratic awareness. And this was exactly what happened.

Election poster Pro Viata

The election platform or “party” – how both teams called themselves – “Pro Viata” (“Pro Life”), set up by students from L. T. Ion Creanga, suggested a campaign against alcohol and cigarettes, especially against its consumption by minors, and advocated measures against the sale of alcohol and cigarettes to underage persons. “Edera”, the team founded by students of L. T. Mihai Eminescu, proposed an ecological project, that is, the construction of a waste recycle station in the city of Cimislia.

Already from most of the propaganda material you could derive that the two election platforms strongly identified with their respective schools. Since most members of the audience wore buttons or flags in order to express their support of one or the other team, it was easy to identify from which school they were. The local trainer’s quite long and thoroughly considered opening speech about democracy, political awareness, the difference

Election poster Edera

between making a choice and voting and suchlike was almost to no avail since the majority of the audience had already decided which team they would vote for.

Nevertheless, the two teams were very well prepared and had elaborated strong arguments, materials, and slideshows. “Pro Viata” even performed a social play about the unpleasant consequences of alcohol and cigarettes for minors and showed a video about a march against these drugs, which they had organised prior to the mock election event.

In spite of the factual presentations, the following public debate was quite polemic, full of mutual offences and provocations. Many questions from the floor were not answered in an objective way but considered as provocation and therefore answered with a counter question or provocation, mostly accompanied by the cheering of the respective supporters group. Even the school administrations got very involved in this competition and when the moment had come to start the voting procedure a big dispute began. Teachers and

Enthusiastic supporters

students from L.T. Ion Creanga insisted that only people who presented their I.D. and thereby proved that they were already 18 years old should be allowed to vote, while the project organisers decided that all present persons were allowed to vote since it was not a “real” election but an exercise and therefore everyone should take part. Apparently, L. T. Ion Creanga considered this an unfair decision and feared to be defeated what induced teachers and even the school director to encourage their students to vote several times. Since there were no electoral lists and no election commission, this was an easy thing to do and after a short time there were much more voting bulletins inside the box than people in the hall.

Consequently, the result was irrelevant and would probably have increased the dispute so that the votes remained uncounted. All in all, the mock election event in Cimislia left behind a quite negative impression despite the quite well elaborated presentations and the big efforts both teams had apparently made beforehand. Unfortunately, it turned out to be rather an occasion to show the students that elections are not objective and that it is appropriate to cheat – an impression that was even reinforced by the inappropriate behaviour of some teachers – than to raise their democratic awareness and to educate future voters.

Ciorn'as Casa de Cultura

On 20 March 2009, Ciorna’s school kids probably awaited the afternoon full of suspense. When the implementation team of “Eu votez pentru ca…”, to put it more precisely, Victor Koroli, project manager, Lia Sclifos and Serghei Lisenco, both national trainers of CMB, and me arrived at the Casa de Cultura (Culture House) of Rezina’s suburb Ciorna, excited kids hustled and bustled in the cosy warm hall. The villages’s Casa de Cultura is situated next to its school, which served as the basis for the mock election event in the around 2,000 inhabitants counting suburb. The school counts 106 pupils and definitely all of them were present. Indeed, in the last rows also some adults and teenagers that had probably already reached the voting age could be made out.

Before the project presentations started, the voting bulletins were handed out at the entrance. A lot of kids had apparently already informed themselves well and made up their minds in advance so that they were prepared to fill in the voting bulletins before the two election platforms started to present their projects to the audience. The local trainer’s salutation “Buna ziua” echoed with several dozens of children’s voices and the event took its course.

Forestierii

The team “Forestierii” (“The Foresters”) referred to the lack of green spaces, the big number of factories and the high level of pollution in Ciorna and proposed to plant trees and to green the suburb. The team “Youth Club”, as its name implies, suggested the provision of possibilities for Ciorna’s youngsters to properly spend their leisure time, that is, to repair the sports field and to convert the Casa de Cultura into a youth club with internet access, modern technical equipment, dance lessons etc. The lack of technical equipment became evident immediately since “Youth Club” could not show the slideshow they had prepared due to the lack of the corresponding screen and projector.

In the debate following the presentations, “Forestierii” had a difficult starting situation. Surely,

Youth Club

some adults directed critical questions to them, such as how they intended to prevent the goats from nibbling the newly planted trees as it used to happen in the past. However, the big majority of kids in the audience showed much more interest in the youth club with its promising internet club and therefore directed a lot of specific questions about prices and opening times to the team “Youth Club”. Although both teams had not invested too much time in visibility and propaganda material, they obviously did a quite good preparation in terms of content and arguments.

After the debate had been concluded, the kids fall on the ballot box and it was not too surprising that the ecological project was overruled by the supporters of the youth club. Indeed, the mock election event in Ciorna might have a smaller influence on the voter turnout in Moldova’s Parliamentary election on 5 April 2009 but on a long-term basis it will have its impact since future voters and political leaders were offered the possibility to acquire some skills.

Solutions of Forestierii

Solutions of Youth Club