Moldova,officially the Republic of Moldova,is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe,on the northeastern corner of the Balkans. The country spans a total of 33,483 km2 and has a population of approximately 2.5 million as of January 2023. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north,east,and south. The unrecognised breakaway state of Transnistria lies across the Dniester river on the country's eastern border with Ukraine. Moldova is a unitary parliamentary representative democratic republic with its capital in Chișinău,the country's largest city and main cultural and commercial centre.
The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional intergovernmental organization in Eurasia. It was formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. It covers an area of 20,368,759 km2 (7,864,422 sq mi) and has an estimated population of 239,796,010. The CIS encourages cooperation in economic,political and military affairs and has certain powers relating to the coordination of trade,finance,lawmaking,and security,including cross-border crime prevention.
The Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova is a communist party in Moldova led by Vladimir Voronin. It is the only communist party to have held a majority government in the post-Soviet states. It has been variously described as communist,Moldovenist,populist,and Russophile.
The president of the Republic of Moldova is the head of state of Moldova. The current president is Maia Sandu,who assumed office on 24 December 2020.
Mircea Ion Snegur was a Moldovan agronomist and politician who served as the first president of Moldova from 1990 to 1997. Before that,he served as the chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Moldovan SSR from 1989 to 1990 and chairman of the Supreme Soviet from 27 April to 3 September 1990.
Moldova elects a legislature at national level. The Parliament (Parlamentul) has 101 members,elected for a four-year term by proportional representation with a 6% electoral threshold. The President used to be elected for a four-year term by a constitutional majority of 60% members of the Parliament,but a Constitutional Court's ruling on 4 March 2016,reverted the election method of the President to a two-round system direct election.
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 Parliament of Moldova is the supreme representative body of the Republic of Moldova,the only state legislative authority,being a unicameral structure composed of 101 elected MPs on lists,for a period or legislature of 4 years. The Parliament of Moldova is elected by universal vote,equal directly,secret and freely expressed. The president of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova is elected by the Parliament,with a minimum of 52 votes.
Serafim Urechean is a Moldovan politician. He held the position of general mayor of Chișinău municipality (1994–2005) and interim prime minister of the Republic of Moldova. He was the chairman of the party Our Moldova Alliance (2003–2011),first deputy chairman of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova (2009–2010) and president of the Court of Accounts of the Republic of Moldova (2011–2016).
Mihai Ghimpu is a Moldovan politician who served as Speaker of Parliament and Acting President of Moldova from 2009 to 2010. He was member of Parliament of Moldova from 1990 to 1998 and from 2009 to 2019. Ghimpu held the position of leader of Liberal Party (PL) from 1998 to 2018.
The Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova is a conservative political party in Moldova. The party is led by Tudor Deliu. Until 2016,PLDM was led by Vlad Filat,who was Prime Minister of Moldova from 2009 to 2013,in two cabinets. Immediately after the 2014 parliamentary elections,with 21 seats in the Moldovan Parliament,PLDM was the largest of the three democratic pro-European parliamentary parties.
The Alliance for European Integration was a centre-right anti-communist ruling coalition in Moldova from the July 2009 election until it lost to a no confidence vote in the Parliament on February 13,2013. It was succeeded by the anti-communist Pro-European Coalition.
The EuroNest Parliamentary Assembly is the inter-parliamentary forum in which members of the European Parliament and the national parliaments of Ukraine,Moldova,Armenia,Azerbaijan and Georgia participate and forge closer political and economic ties with the European Union. It was established in 2011 by the European Commission as a component of the Eastern Partnership. After the elections in Belarus in 2010 were declared as flawed by the OSCE,the membership of Belarus in Euronest was automatically suspended. Belarus is welcome to re-join the Assembly once political requirements have been fulfilled. In 2015,Azerbaijan's membership was suspended due to the European Union's criticism of human rights abuses by the government. In September 2016,it was announced that Azerbaijan would take the necessary steps towards restoring ties. As of 2017,the combined population of Euronest members stands at 61,927,521 people.
Alexandru Oleinic is a Moldovan politician,who was elected as a deputy in the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova in two consecutive legislatures between 2001 and 2009,on the lists of the Electoral Bloc Democratic Moldova. Between 2009 and 2011 he was Minister of Information Technologies and Communications of the Republic of Moldova in the First Vlad Filat Cabinet.
Ion Hadârcă is a poet,translator and Moldovan politician,deputy to the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova between 1990 and 1998 and from 2009 to 2014. Ion Hadârcăwas the founder and first president of the Popular Front of Moldova (1989–1992),chairman of the Liberal Reformist Party.
Valeriu Streleț is a Moldovan politician who was Prime Minister of Moldova in 2015. He subsequently received a vote of no-confidence on 29 October 2015.
Ivan Ionaș was a Moldovan politician and a member of the Moldovan Parliament between 2010 and 2014.
The Revival Party is a pro-Russian political party in Moldova.
The Party of Action and Solidarity is a liberal political party in Moldova. The PAS was founded by Maia Sandu,the former Minister of Education and the incumbent president of Moldova. A pro-European party,it is an observer of the European People's Party (EPP) and the International Democrat Union (IDU).
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.
