Republic of Moldova

Monthly Event Reports GSOD Indices

The Republic of Moldova, located in Eastern Europe, performs in the middle range across all categories in the Global State of Democracy framework. It is amongst the top 25 per cent in the world in terms of its performance in Effective Parliament, Political and Social Group Equality, and Gender Equality. Over the past five years, it has experience notable advances in multiple factors of Representation (Credible Elections, Effective Parliament), Rights (Freedom of Expression, Freedom of the Press, Gender Equality), and Rule of Law (Absence of Corruption, Predictable Enforcement and Personal Integrity and Security). It has not experienced any significant declines in that time period. Moldova is a lower-middle-income country and is among the poorest in Europe, although growth rates have been strong since the early 2000s. The main sectors include agriculture, food processing, natural resources, and services. The Moldovan economy is also the most reliant on remittances in all of Europe.

In the three decades since its independence from the Soviet Union (in 1991), the country has undergone a slow transition to democracy. Moldova has struggled especially with issues of corruption, abuse of power, and state capture. From 2013 to 2019, the country was under the effective control of oligarch Vlad Plahotniuc, who used state power to siphon off $1 billion from Moldova’s three largest banks. As corruption became a significant roadblock hindering economic growth, it also became one of the most dominant issues in the country’s politics. In successive elections in 2020 and 2021, Moldovans voted in strong numbers to elect pro-European Union (EU), anti-corruption reformers.

Moldova is an ethnically diverse state with clear divides between pro-EU and pro-Russia sentiments. The separatist enclave of Transnistria is composed primarily of Russian speakers who favour close ties to Moscow, and pro-Russian sentiment is also widespread in the autonomous territory of Gagauzia. While ethnic Moldovans account for over 75 per cent of the population, there is significant disagreement as to whether their language and identity should be called Moldovan or Romanian. Historically, Moldova was part of Romania, and even today many Moldovans hold dual nationality. Large numbers of Moldovans favour reunification with Romania, and this number has grown in recent years.

GSoD Indices show that Moldova has made steady progress on gender equality in a timespan of two decades as well as more recently over the last five years. This may be attributed to the adoption of a series of laws and policies including on the prohibition of discrimination and women’s political empowerment. Yet gender equality remains challenged by violence against women, and inequality in health, employment, and unpaid care responsibilities.

Moldova is a country in transition, but its recent progress is notable. Given the governing party’s declared commitment to the rule of law and anti-corruption reforms, it will be important to watch potential continued growth in Representation, Rule of Law and Rights. In 2022, Moldova gained EU candidate status, although the road to membership is expected to be long. It will be important to watch how the Russian war of aggression impacts Moldova, especially as it has already enflamed tensions with Transnistria and has impacted basic welfare. Furthermore, high emigration rates and poor infrastructure hamper economic growth, in turn making the work of combatting graft and corruption more difficult.

July 2023 | Ministers replaced after airport shooting

Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Recean replaced the ministers of Interior, Education, and Development on 14 July. The ministers had resigned following a deadly gun attack at Chisinau Airport on 30 June, where a Tajik citizen killed two officers after being denied entry to Moldova. The resignation of Interior Minister, Ana Revenco, had been demanded by parliamentary opposition. However, the relation of the portfolios of ministers of Science and Education, and Infrastructure and Regional Development was not made publicly clear by the government.

Resignation Dorin Recean Mass shooting

June 2023 | Chisinau holds country’s largest peaceful Pride

Moldova held the largest and most peaceful Pride march in its history on 18 June in Chisinau, where marchers far outnumbered counter-protesters, police presence was “less dense” than previous years, and no incidents of harassment were recorded. For the second year in a row, the march went on despite the mayor’s announcement that the city would not authorize the march – an authority that the mayor’s office does not hold. The improving climate for LGBTQIA+ rights in Moldova, including new legal protections for sexual orientation and gender identity in 2023, led to the country’s jump by fourteen places (one of the six countries with the biggest improvement) in ILGA-Europe’s Rainbow Map, a ranking of European countries’ LGBTQIA+ friendly laws and policies.

LGBTQIA+ Rights

May 2023 | Gagauzia election delivers controversy

Shor Party candidate Evghenia Gutul was elected Bashkan (governor) of the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia with 52 per cent of the vote in a run-off election on 14 May. Gutul ran on a platform of promoting closer ties to Russia and her election has raised concerns of increasing tensions between the central government and the Gagauz autonomous territory, where the overwhelming majority of the population are members of the Turkic-speaking Gagauz ethnic group. However, support for Gutul has been attributed to promises to bring economic development, and all eight candidates for office were openly pro-Russian. The election was marked by disputes between the central election commissions of Moldova and Gagauzia, and protests in the Gagauz capital of Comrat were sparked when anti-corruption officials seized voter lists as part of an electoral fraud investigation. Moldovan courts upheld the results of the election, despite citing electoral violations and evidence of bribery. Turnout for the first and second round were 61 per cent and 58 per cent, respectively, although observers alleged that voter rolls had been tampered with to push the official turnout above the necessary 50 per cent to validate the election.

Protests Elections Electoral Management Body Gagauzia

April 2023 | Oligarch Ilan Shor sentenced in absentia

The exiled Moldovan oligarch and political party leader Ilan Shor was sentenced to 15 years in prison on 13 April for his role in the theft of about USD 1 billion in bank assets, or about 15 per cent of the country’s GDP, in 2015. The Moldovan parliament then stripped Shor of his parliamentary mandate on 27 April. Shor’s party, which holds six of parliament’s 101 seats, has organized large protests against inflation and the government’s support of Ukraine. These protests contributed to the resignation of the government in February 2023. The Moldovan government has argued the protests are the work of “criminal groups” and that protesters are being compensated to attend. Protesters interviewed by journalists have spoken openly about being transported to the capital on buses by the Shor Party and paid a daily rate to participate.

Organized Crime Civil Unrest Ilan Shor