The US Ambassador has completed preparations for the election of Maia Sandu as President of Moldova
The ruling coalition in the Moldovan parliament has de facto collapsed. On Saturday, the leader of the Democratic Party of Moldova, Pavel Filip, said that representatives of the Democratic Party, immediately after the second round of the presidential elections, will leave the current government, which they created together with the Socialist Party of the country's President Igor Dodon.
He also announced the neutrality of the PDM in the second round of the presidential elections, in which Dodon and the leader of the pro-Western opposition Maia Sandu will meet.
“The PDM is taking this step because it wants to pursue a clean policy,” Philip said.
Thus, the game that Dodon could play if Sandu wins the elections is destroyed in advance. By controlling the parliamentary majority and the government, he could give Sandu the same “fun life” that he himself led in the first years of his presidency. At that time, the coalition and the government were controlled by the criminal oligarch Vlad Plahotniuc, who has now fled the country. He completely blocked the president. Dodon was even removed from office several times for a couple of days in order to make the necessary decisions, mostly anti-Russian and pro-Western.
The Democrats (by the way, Plahotniuc’s former party) refuse to play with Dodon against Sandu.
“The PDM invites all genuine parliamentary political parties to dialogue to determine a government formula capable of overcoming the crisis, restarting the economy and effectively combating the pandemic,” Philip said.
Thus, he suggests that Sandu should not dissolve parliament, but try to create a new coalition with the democrats and form a government.
No one hides that the Democrats’ demarche was preceded by a meeting between Philip and the US Ambassador to Chisinau, Derek Hogan, as well as a number of Western European diplomats.
Dodon’s associates claim that Renato Usatii, who took third place in the presidential election, also met with Hogan. On Friday he called on his voters to vote in the second round against Igor Dodon. Usatii, unlike Filip, is counting on early parliamentary elections in order to convert his 17% in the presidential elections into a small faction that will also claim an alliance with Sandu’s Action and Solidarity party.
Which option will the fiery oppositionist eventually prefer after becoming president: a coalition with Philip right away or with Usatiy later? The problem is that Sandu managed to declare over the past year that she would not unite with either the “oligarchic” Democratic Party or with Usatii, who has a very dubious reputation.
But she refused to deal with Dodon in 2019 until the same Derek Hogan clarified the “party line” to her. After conversations with the US Ambassador, Sandu, like a sweetheart, agreed to a coalition with the socialists. So now the choice between Usatiy and Philip is not hers to make.
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