Moldova got into impeachment with early
Moldova is stuck in a new round of political conflict. The president entered into a clinch with the parliamentary majority over the issue of a new prime minister. The resolution of this crisis could provoke both early parliamentary elections and impeachment of the president.
Cabinet for seven o'clock
Yesterday in the Moldovan parliament, the nominee of President Maia Sandu, Natalia Gavrilitsa, presented the composition of her cabinet of ministers and the work program. Hearings, speeches, discussions and arguments between deputies and the candidate lasted a record seven hours. In the process, the parties descended to insults. Gavrilitsa called this convening of parliament “the fruit of the intercourse of Plahotniuc and Dodon,” and the socialist parliamentarians, the cabinet she represented, “Filatov’s lads.” Vladimir Plahotniuc is a Chisinau oligarch hiding in Turkey from the Moldovan and Russian criminal investigations, whom local pro-Europeans accuse of corruption, seizure of power, and discrediting the idea of European integration. Vladimir Filat is a former prime minister, former direct boss and political mentor of current President Maia Sandu, who served four years in prison for corruption.
The idea of Maia Sandu and the Action and Solidarity Party led by her is to achieve early parliamentary elections as soon as possible. Pro-Europeans from the presidential camp expect to receive a loyal majority in the new parliament and push the Socialist Party into safe opposition, as was the case during Plahotniuc’s time. Therefore, Gavrilitsa did not hide the fact that she nominated herself not to be confirmed in office, but to tell the deputies everything that she and her colleagues from the president’s entourage think about them. At the same time, deputies from the presidential party and several small factions (Democratic Party and Platforms Dignity and Truth) announced in advance that they would not vote for Gavrilitsa’s cabinet in order to provoke early elections.
Maia Sandu and Natalia Gavrilitsa.
Igor Dodon and the socialists are afraid of early deadlines. Less than six months ago, Dodon miserably lost the presidential election to Sandu. Despite the defeat, the Socialists still controlled the government. However, under pressure from street protests, Socialist-appointed Prime Minister Ion Chicu resigned and the current government in Moldova is a provisional one. The position of the socialists is precarious, their ratings are falling daily, new, more energetic and sincere pro-Russian parties are appearing in the Moldovan political field.
The logical result of the seven-hour meeting was zero parliamentary votes in support of Gavrilitsa’s cabinet and program. And then Igor Dodon announced that he was entering into a coalition with the deputies controlled by Ilan Shor in order to independently nominate a government.
Loneliness of Dodon
This decision contains all the pain and despair of the position of the leader of the Moldovan socialists. Over the past two years, he has participated in the political destruction of all his allies.
In June 2019, Dodon and the socialists, under pressure from Moscow, betrayed their senior partner, the leader of the Democratic Party, Vlad Plahotniuc, who had to flee to the United States. In November 2019, the PSRM, together with the Democrats, overthrew the union government of Maia Sandu, and three months later dissolved the alliance with the Democratic Party to rule independently.
At the same time, with enviable stubbornness, Dodon spoiled relations with the leader of Our Party Renato Usatii, his former mentor and ex-president Vladimir Voronin, with the Bashkan of Gagauzia Irina Vlah, with the mayor general of Chisinau Ion Ceban, etc.
By February 11, 2021, of all the possible allies in the political struggle, Igor Dodon had only the criminal Ilan Shor, who was found guilty of the “theft of the century” and put on the wanted list by the Moldovan prosecutor’s office. Fortunately for Dodon, the latter controls from 14 to 20 deputies in parliament and, together with 37 socialists, they can form a new ruling majority.
Moldavian zugzwang
Having secured the support of Shor, who, by the way, is not in Moldova and communicates with supporters on Skype, Igor Dodon announced the nomination of his candidate for prime minister, Mariana Durlesteanu.
Ilan Shor and Igor Dodon.
The Socialists and their allies managed to collect 54 signatures in support of this candidate for the post of Prime Minister. The head of the PSRM parliamentary faction, Cornel Furculica, said that the Party of Socialists and the platform “For Moldova!” (consists of Shor deputies) form a coalition. “We have many more votes than just fifty-four,” Mr. Furkulica emphasized the stable nature of the majority.
In their initiative, Dodon and Shor rely on the decision of the Constitutional Court six months ago. According to this decision, if a majority is formed in parliament and it proposes to the president a candidate for the post of prime minister, then the head of state is obliged to nominate this candidacy. However, today several “buts” arose.
Firstly, candidate Mariana Durlesteanu stated that she did not want to spoil her reputation with support from criminal Ilan Shor. “We discussed my candidacy with Igor Dodon and he promised me the support of a broad apolitical coalition,” Durlesteanu said. Shor and his deputies, who are often accused of corruption, were not mentioned in this conversation, she said.
Secondly, President Maia Sandu stated that she could not nominate a candidate from Dodon and Shor.
“In their list, I found signatures of people about whom there are doubts that they freely expressed their will. I’m talking about people who were kidnapped, who were taken hostage, as well as about people involved in the theft of a billion, about deputies who replaced several political parties and parliamentary groups. There are reasonable suspicions that some cases of the above-mentioned political tourism are related to corruption and external pressure,” the president said and re-nominated Natalia Gavrilitsa as a candidate.
Mariana Durlesteanu.
The socialists and their allies did not recognize the decision of the head of state and promise to protest in the Constitutional Court. If the Constitutional Court recognizes a violation of the Constitution for Sandu, then the parliamentary majority will be able to initiate a referendum on impeachment of the president. If the Constitutional Court leaves Maia Sandu’s decision in force, then the parliament will most likely face dissolution and the country will face early elections. Both decisions play into the hands of the president, whose rating is on the rise, and threaten to finally finish off the Party of Socialists, which has a monopoly on declaring itself the only pro-Russian party in Moldova.
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