Moldova Elects Pro-Western Maia Sandu as President

Moldovan President-Elect Maia Sandu ran a staunch anti-corruption campaign. (Wikimedia Commons).

Moldovan presidential candidate Maia Sandu emerged victorious, with 58 percent of the vote following an election on November 15. She defeated the incumbent rival, the pro-Russian socialist incumbent Igor Dodon.

The president-elect is the former Prime Minister of Moldova and an avowed supporter of expanding Moldova’s relationship with the European Union. 

Many analysts describe Moldova as a battleground for Western and Russian political influence. Typically, Moldovan voters weigh candidates on whether they prefer someone aligned with Moscow or Brussels. However, this election cycle proved different, as Sandu’s successful campaign ran on a staunchly anti-corruption platform.

Corruption has long been a topic of concern for Moldovans, who remember the 2015 embezzlement of $1 billion from Moldovan banks. In the weeks before the election, an investigative report published leaks from the Kremlin that show a special relationship between Dodon and the Russian government, suggesting that Dodon is a puppet for Russian interests. Another scandal rocked Moldova when a video depicting a conversation between Dodon and a Russian oligarch in which Dodon said Russian authorities had given him hundreds of thousands of dollars went viral. 

“We are faced with a choice—leaving the government at the mercy of a corrupt system and the population at their own peril and risk, or radically remaking it by building an effective government that takes care of all citizens,” said Sandu during her campaign. “I will be a president who will put things in the country in order and will work to ensure justice and the well-being of every citizen!”

While the Moldovan people granted Sandu the presidency, the former Prime Minister will face opposition from Dodon’s party, the Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova (PSRM). To accomplish her anti-corruption agenda under Moldova’s parliamentary system, she must work with the PSRM, which currently holds a majority in the national parliament.