Politics
The Republic of Moldova is a parliamentary democracy with a unicameral Parliament composed of 101 members, elected every four years. According to the Constitutional Court, a simple majority of 52 votes is required to pass laws. Per Article 78, paragraph 1, of the Constitution of the Republic of Moldova, the President (Head of State) is elected by “universal, equal, direct, secret, and freely expressed vote” of the citizens every four years. The President nominates the Prime Minister (Head of Government), who selects a cabinet of ministers and seeks a vote of investiture from Parliament. Parliament can also dismiss the government through a motion of no confidence, which similarly requires at least 52 votes.
From 1991 to 2024, Moldova has had five presidents who completed their terms: Mircea Snegur, Petru Lucinschi, Vladimir Voronin, Igor Dodon, and Maia Sandu.
From 2001 to 2009, the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova (PCRM) held the majority of seats in the Parliament, with its leader, Vladimir Voronin, elected as President for two consecutive terms.
In the parliamentary elections of April 5, 2009, the PCRM again won a landslide , securing 60 seats. However, the opposition accused the Communists of rigging the elections, which led to massive protests in Chisinau that escalated into street battles on April 7. During these protests, the parliament and presidency were vandalised, and the Declaration of Independence was burned. This uprising, known as the "Twitter Revolution," primarily involved young people and resulted in numerous arrests and reports of ill-treatment in police custody.
The protests galvanised the pro-European opposition, which refused to collaborate with PCRM MPs in electing a president. To elect a president, 61 votes were needed for the Communist candidate. After two failed attempts, early parliamentary elections were held in the summer of 2009.
The elections led to the Communists losing power, with pro-European parties securing a simple majority. The coalition included the Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova (PLDM), the Liberal Party (PL), the Democratic Party of Moldova (PDM), and the Our Moldova Alliance (AMN), with Vladimir Filat of the PLDM becoming Prime Minister. However, the Alliance for European Integration (AIE) struggled to elect a president, resulting in a series of early parliamentary elections.
The president could not be elected until March 2012, when the same alliance succeeded in electing judge Nicolae Timofti as head of the state. His vote was made possible after several members of the Parliament left the PCRM, led by Igor Dodon. They voted for Timofti as president after founding a new political party, the Party of Socialists of Moldova (PSRM), which won the majority seats in the 2014 parliamentary elections. The three remaining AIE parties formed a new majority and elected a government. However, the AIE fractured in 2015 due to internal disagreements , making cooperation impossible. At the time, the former Prime Minister Vladimir Filat was detained and sentenced to nine years in prison on corruption charges.
In the meantime, a decision by the Constitutional Court on March 4, 2016, reinstated the election of the president by direct vote of the citizens. Pro-Russian leader of the Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova (PSRM) Igor Dodon won the 2016 elections. views. During this period, power in the country and parliament was effectively seized by oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc through the Democratic Party of Moldova (PDM), the only party in the Alliance for European Integration (AIE) to remain in power . By bribing MPs from other parties and leveraging his control over several media outlets, Plahotniuc ruled Moldova from the shadows until 2019, when he was forced to flee the country amid accusations of state capture. He left Moldova after PDM was ousted by a coalition formed by the PSRM and the Action and Solidarity Party (PAS), which was established in 2016 by Maia Sandu, the former Minister of Education known for implementing several reforms. Sandu became Prime Minister, but the unusual alliance between the pro-Russian PSRM and the pro-European PAS quickly fell apart, leading to her dismissal in the Autumn of 2019.
In 2020, Sandu ran in the presidential election and won the run-off, defeating incumbent Igor Dodon, against whom allegations of corruption began to surface. A viral video from 2019 showed Dodon receiving a black bag allegedly containing money from Vladimir Plahotniuc, which was later used as evidence in a criminal case against him.
After Sandu's victory in the presidential election, the socialist-controlled Chicu government resigned, and early parliamentary elections were held in the summer of 2021. PAS received the most votes and formed the government independently, allowing the party founded by President Sandu to hold key state positions.
The PAS government faced significant challenges, including Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and an ongoing hybrid conflict with Russia. In response, Moldova applied for European Union membership on March 3, 2022. The European Commission issued its opinion on June 17, 2022, and the European Council granted Moldova candidate status on June 23. By December 2023, the European Council initiated accession negotiations. Moldova has maintained a visa-free regime with the EU since 2014.
On October 20, 2024, citizens voted in a referendum to amend the Constitution, aiming to enshrine the "irreversibility of the European path" and make EU accession a "strategic objective of the Republic of Moldova." The measure passed narrowly, with 50.35% voting in favor and 49.65% against. The referendum was declared valid with a 50.72% voter turnout, clearing the way for constitutional amendments.
On November 3, 2024, incumbent President Maia Sandu won reelection in a runoff against PSRM candidate Alexandr Stoianoglo, a former prosecutor general who had been dismissed following a corruption investigation.
Both the referendum and presidential elections were marred by allegations of electoral fraud. Law enforcement agencies and journalists uncovered evidence suggesting that hundreds of thousands of Moldovan citizens were allegedly paid to vote against the referendum and for specific presidential candidates.