The New Moldovan President to Be Elected in Parliament?

The international isolation, the technocratic government failure and the mobilization of opposition forces critically reduce Igor Dodon's chances to win the fall election by means of traditional methods. Does the incumbent have alternatives? Sergiu Ceban, RTA: Recently, some revival among the opposition forces took place. Representatives of the unionist bloc made several high-profile critical statements against the Moldovan president and his wards, and the main leaders of the protest movement Maia Sandu and Andrei Nastase decided after a number of absentee rallies to meet and discuss further political plans. As it became known to the Moldovan press, one of the conversation topics was the draft of a certain “Non-aggression pact” all opposition forces can be proposed to sign. It follows from the text of the document that the main task of the informal coalition is to prevent the re-election of Igor Dodon for the second presidential term, who, being a “Kremlin agent” has seized all the country power and plans to federalize the Republic of Moldova. In this regard, the potential signatories of the Pact undertake to abandon mutual criticism and public attacks against each other that would only strengthen Dodon's chances to remain in power after the 2020. It should be recalled that certain mobilization processes could be seen on the right flank at the end of last year after Igor Dodon and the Party of Socialists gained almost all the country’s power. As a result, the UNIREA bloc was formed in the midst of unionist movements gathering most parties with corresponding ideological sense. Most likely, namely this example together with the fragmented approaches to candidates at the by-election in Hincesti prompted advisers Maia Sandu and Andrei Nastase to convince their leaders reject mutual reproaches and begin creating a “resistance movement” aimed at displacing the “Dodon occupation regime”. Meanwhile, former Prime Minister Sandu has already managed to express her readiness for an active political struggle, threatening to take citizens to the streets in protest against the actions of the authorities which allowed the growth of tariffs and prices. At the same time, the politician noted that she does not exclude the option of nominating a single candidate for the presidency on conditions that he has a high electoral rating and accordingly, greatest chances to defeat the current head of state. The bad conditions of affairs within current government both on the internal and external perimeters directly associated personally with Igor Dodon, is perhaps the best reason for the formation and launching of a united opposition front. The widespread international isolation is shown by the vivid example of Moldova’s exclusion from the list of countries with a preferential export regime to the United States and instills in the Moldovan’s opposition the necessary optimism and strength confidence. Most likely, the president’s entourage understands how rapidly the leader of the socialists is losing their ratings and what this may ultimately lead to. The prolonged provision of external financial assistance, a series of scandals involving new ministers, growing chaos in the Transdniestrian settlement, and the ever more clearly visible outlines of a powerful opposition project make it impossible for Igor Dodon to participate in the presidential race, which is likely to result in a painful defeat and revealing political reprisal. In such circumstances, the head of state’s team does not have much room for maneuver and two possible paths are currently being seen for extending the political career. The first is the return of the procedure for electing the president to parliament, where, with the required 61 votes of deputies from the Socialist and Democratic faction Igor Dodon has a chance for the second term. It is no secret that it is important for the PDM which is not going through the best times of its history, to preserve the existing parliament, since any early elections can become fatal for this party. However, in this situation, there is a risk that the socialists will have to seriously move forward and cede to the democrats a significant part of the political space and government posts up to the creation of a joint documented coalition. The second option is to completely restart the country's political system and dissolve parliament on the eve of the presidential election. Such a scenario can be realized if the Democrats refuse to support Igor Dodon who will be forced to impose early parliamentary elections to disperse the opposition, mobilizing exclusively for the presidential race. With this development of events the president also has the opportunity to head the PSRM party list and continue the political struggle and career from parliamentary positions.