Brief history of the Political Party "SHOR"
The "SHOR" Party is one of the oldest political parties in the Republic of Moldova. As early as June 1998, almost two decades ago, the social-political Republican Movement "Ravnopravie" was officially founded and became, in accordance with the legislation in force, a full-fledged political organization led by the well-known political and social activist Valerii Klimenko. The struggle for equal rights for all citizens of the Republic of Moldova, regardless of their mother tongue and nationality, for the development and prosperity of the country, for justice and traditional values were, from the beginning, the main concerns of the political movement. Thousands of citizens from almost every corner of Moldova united around the ideas and objectives of the "Ravnopravie" Movement.
From the early days, "Ravnopravie" has been an active participant in the political processes in the country. The movement took part in most of the elections, both parliamentary and local. As a result, dozens of representatives of the organization were elected to various representative institutions of local government at different levels - mayors of cities and villages, as well as city, municipal, village and district councilors.
A turning point in the development of the organization was in 2015. In May of that year, the Movement decided to participate in the local elections in Orhei and to put forward the candidacy of the young but already successful entrepreneur, philanthropist Ilan Shor, for the office of mayor. Despite the difficult task, an exceptional result was achieved. "Ravnopravie" won the vast majority of seats in the City Council and Ilan Shor became the city's mayor in the first round, accumulating an impressive majority of votes.
This sensational victory for Moldovan politics was achieved not only thanks to the result of the work of a competent team assembled by Shor and the experience of "Ravnopravia", but also to the absolutely new approaches that Ilan Shor applied during the election campaign. The main weapon in the fight for votes was sincerity, honesty, openness, direct dialogue with voters and a high level of responsibility to fulfil the promises made. Immersed in an ocean of pressing problems faced by the residents of Orhei, Ilan Shor decided to immediately launch the process of remedying the situation, to start implementing possible measures to solve the most pressing and burning problems of citizens. Even before his election, the future mayor had begun to take specific steps to improve people's lives, he had begun to provide them with indispensable help.
And people believed! Despite severe pressure and a defamatory campaign in the media, despite the citizens' disillusionment with politicians, Shor's team managed to convince the people of Orhei of his sincerity and ability to change the situation. This confidence was maintained and strengthened after the elections. Starting with the first year, the promises made have been fulfilled. The city of Orhei began to transform. More has been achieved in one year for its prosperity and the improvement of the quality of life of its citizens than in the whole period of the 1990s.
The citizens of Orhei have seen a new politician and a new political force, the first one that did not disappoint the expectations of the citizens. The whole country started to talk about Orhei, about the mayor and about the tangible changes. The successes of Ilan Shor's team in one city have opened a perspective of a new and qualitative approach to party building, it has made it possible to talk about the necessity and possibility of extending the positive experience throughout the country.
There was a need to reform and strengthen the political organization, which was already facing new challenges and growing voter confidence.
In June 2016, the founder and leader of the organization, Valerii Klimenko, handed over the leadership of the party to the newly elected chairman, Ilan Shor. Klimenko himself became the honorary chairman of the organization, maintaining his membership in the party's leadership.
Under the leadership of the new chairman, a plan was drawn up in summer-autumn 2016 to radically reform the political organization and significantly increase its political influence.
At the same time, the decision was taken to participate in the presidential elections by delegating its candidate. After consultation with the residents of Orhei, a direct contact with which the party and Mayor Ilan Shor did not lose even for a minute, Inna Popenco, a simple doctor from Orhei, was confirmed as the candidate for the office of President of the Republic of Moldova on behalf of the "Ravnopravie" Movement. Thousands of voting citizens from all over the country signed up for her registration in a very short time. The candidate and her team attended hundreds of meetings with tens of thousands of voters, telling them about the successes in Orhei and that she intends to apply the experience of Orhei across the country. For the first time, the election campaign included a candidate from the people, who understood their problems, who spoke to them in the same language.
This did not go unnoticed, the candidate's ratings rose, voters and experts started talking about her and the party that nominated her. Unfortunately, the popularity and independence of our candidate became irritating for political rivals, who, in complicity with the power and political elites, illegally excluded Inna Popenco from the electoral race, using false pretexts, shortly before voting day. Despite this, the party, Ilan Shor's entire team gained invaluable experience in the countrywide election campaign, and voters had the opportunity to learn about Ilan Shor's party and the unique and positive changes in Orhei.
On September 25th, 2016, another (7th) Republican Conference of the political organization was held in Orhei, where the new central leadership and control collectives were elected and a special working committee was created to draft a new Program and Statute. These documents were drafted, agreed upon, adopted by relevant political authorities and approved by the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Moldova on November 07th, 2016. Thus, in the autumn of 2016, the procedure of reforming the "Ravnopravie" Movement was officially completed and the Political Party "SHOR" was born, with an updated Statute, a new Program, symbols (1 2) and ambitious goals for the future.
On the path to its goals, from the end of 2016 - beginning of 2017, the "SHOR" Party launched a massive campaign to expand and strengthen the party's ranks. New territorial structures at different levels are being established, new party offices are being opened, new members are being accepted. The political volume and geography is increasing, as well as the work with voters to win their trust and attract them as allies. The development of unique social projects implemented by the "SHOR" Party continues, among which a jewel is the "Magazine Sociale" (Social Shops) project. Systematic work is carried out to strengthen human resources, the potential of experts and ideologists of the organization, and it is planned to open its own party school.
The formation is growing. Not only the daily routine of party building awaits us, but also challenges - election campaigns, the fight for the voters' vote, for representation in central and local institutions of state government, for the possibility to implement our vision of leading the country. We have an enormous amount of work ahead of us to improve the lives of citizens, to build Moldova, the state of well-being for all!
A new history of our political organization has begun. A history, which we are convinced will be much longer than the previous period and will occupy a place of honor in the common political history of our beloved country - the Republic of Moldova.