Telecommunications in Moldova are maintained at a relatively high performance level. Because Moldova is a small country, telecommunications companies managed to achieve good coverage in both wired and wireless communications infrastructure. Landline is available in most settlements, however mobile phone popularity has vastly increased in recent years. Mobile communications infrastructures are fairly well developed but suffer from high prices, nonetheless the amount of mobile subscriptions is growing very fast compared to the landline. As far as the Internet is concerned, Moldova has one of the best wired Internet connections in the world as well as one of the cheapest in $ per Mbit.
The European Social Democratic Party is a centre-left, populist social-democratic political party in Moldova. Established in 1997, the party holds pro-European views, and is an associate member of the Party of European Socialists (PES) and a full member of the Socialist International. According to its statute, the PSDE pleads that Moldova is an independent, sovereign, and democratic state, based on law, and integrated in the united family of European democracies. Reflecting former leader Marian Lupu's views, but also the strong influence of the Moldovan Orthodox Church, the party is more conservative on social issues, such as LGBT rights.
The unification of Moldova and Romania is a popular concept in the two countries that began during the Revolutions of 1989. The Romanian Revolution in 1989 and the independence of Moldova in 1991 further contributed to the development of a movement for the unification of the two Romanian-speaking countries. The question of reunification is recurrent in the public sphere of the two countries, often as a speculation, both as a goal and a danger. Though historically Romanian support for unification was high, a March 2022 survey following the Russian invasion of Ukraine indicated that only 11% of Romania's population supports an immediate union, while over 42% think it is not the right moment.
Internet in Moldova is one of the fastest and least expensive in the world. The country ranks 3rd in the world by gigabit coverage with around 90% of the population having the option to subscribe to a gigabit plan. The overall infrastructure is well developed which allows many users to experience good quality services throughout the country. However, despite high speeds and cheap prices, the penetration level is quite low when compared with many EU or CIS countries. In 2018, 49% of Moldovan households had broadband access. In 2015, there were 80 registered Internet Service Provider's (ISP's) in the country, with the majority being local or regional with only a few offering their services throughout the country. Moldtelecom and StarNet are the country's leading providers sharing around 88% of the market. The remaining 12% are shared between other ISPS, like SunCommunications, Arax Communications and others. Almost all ISPs that offer their services across the country have their headquarters located in the capital-city of Chişinău.
The mass media in Moldova refers to mass media outlets based in the Republic of Moldova. Television, magazines, and newspapers are all operated by both state-owned and for-profit corporations which depend on advertising, subscription, and other sales-related revenues. The Constitution of Moldova guarantees freedom of speech. As a country in transition, Moldova's media system is under transformation.
Television in Moldova was introduced in 1958.
Publika TV is a Moldovan broadcast news television station. It was launched on April 7, 2010, their founders being the Romanian businessman Sorin Ovidiu Vîntu and the Moldovan businessman Vladimir Plahotniuc.
Ion Butmalai was a Moldovan politician and a deputy in the Parliament of Moldova from 2009 to 2014, member of the Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova.
Veaceslav Platon is a Moldovan businessman and former member of the Parliament of Moldova from 2009 to 2010. He also holds Russian citizenship.
Petru Bogatu was a journalist, essayist, political analyst and writer from the Republic of Moldova, unionist and pro-occidental orientation, editorialist at the National Newspaper, professor at the State University of Moldova, Faculty of Journalism and Communication Sciences.
Igor Dodon is a Moldovan politician who previously served as the President of Moldova from 23 December 2016 to 24 December 2020. He currently serves as the leader of the Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova. He served as Minister of Economy and Trade in the governments of Vasile Tarlev and Zinaida Greceanîi from September 2006 to September 2009 and was a member of the Parliament of Moldova from 2009 to 2016. He lost his bid for re-election in 2020 to Maia Sandu, whom he had defeated four years earlier in the 2016 Moldovan presidential election.
Vladimir Plahotniuc, commonly referred to as Vlad Plahotniuc, is a Moldovan politician, businessman and oligarch. He was the chairman of the Democratic Party of Moldova and previously was a member of the Parliament of Moldova for three terms, and served as First Vice President of the Parliament of Moldova. Until leaving the territory of the Republic of Moldova in 2019, he was considered to be the powerhouse of Moldovan politics in matters of influence, controlling Moldova's government and parliamentary majority. Since fleeing Moldova in June 2019, Plahotniuc has resided in Turkey.
Pavel Filip is a Moldovan politician.
Renato Usatîi is a Moldovan politician and businessman serving as President of Our Party since 8 February 2015. He is the current mayor of Bălți after previously holding the office from July 2015 to February 2018.
Starting in the spring of 2015, Moldova experienced large-scale protests amid a worsening economic situation and corruption scandals. The protests gained momentum in September, when up to 100,000 people demonstrated in the largest protest since Moldova's independence from the Soviet Union in August 1991.
Realitatea TV is a Moldovan generalist-informative television channel. The channel is distributed by the cable operators in Moldova, and since May 2015 also broadcasts through analogue terrestrial television in Chișinău and its suburbs.
The Filip Cabinet was the Cabinet of Moldova led by Pavel Filip from January 2016 to June 2019.
Andrei Năstase is a Moldovan politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Internal Affairs from 8 June 2019 to 12 November 2019. He was also a member of Parliament of Moldova in 2019. Năstase was the leader of the Dignity and Truth Platform from 2015 to 2021.
The Modern Democratic Party is a centre-right political party of the Republic of Moldova. It was founded and led by Andrian Candu, the former President of the Moldovan Parliament, under the original name of Pro Moldova. Since 2021, the acting president is Boris Foca, who changed the party's name to the Modern Democratic Party in 2023.
On 18 September 2022, protests in Moldova began in the capital city of Chișinău, demanding the resignation of the country's pro-Western government, amid an energy crisis causing rising natural gas prices and inflation, caused in part by the war in Ukraine.
