The Growing Crisis: Igor Dodon and PSRM's Retaliated against the President

Sergiu CEBAN Following the Constitutional Court's adverse decision on the self-dissolution of the Moldovan parliament, Igor Dodon and the Socialist Party voiced an ultimatum to the President to nominate a Prime Minister candidate by February 1 Keeping the pace of her international contacts, Maia Sandu paid another important visit this week, this time to Brussels, where she held numerous meetings with European key figures. Such openness from the European officials and the high intensity of contacts in the EU capital suggest strong support for the Moldovan president. As part of her trip, the head of state aimed at full restoration of the bilateral political dialogue with the European Union institutions and deeper integration of the Republic of Moldova into European structures, focusing also on the national and regional security issues. One of the main topics of the visit was financial support to Moldova in the coming years, including urgent aid to mitigate consequences of the economic crisis and the challenging situation in health sector. It is possible that the President of Moldova can count not only on the political facilitation from Brussels but also on the targeted assistance in several sectoral areas. However, the fully unblocked financial flows and resumed systemic resource supply will most likely be possible only after Maia Sandu confidently gains a foothold on the Moldovan political Olympus and guarantees the inviolability of Moldova's pro-European course. Meanwhile, Igor Dodon has expectedly voiced the first post-electoral accusations against Sandu, breaking off a pause. In his opinion, the head of state takes no action in a difficult internal political environment. Moreover, the ex-president doubted the success of his successor's first international visits. Dodon's claims are partly justified, therefore he decided to resort to pressure once the weaknesses in Maia Sandu's positions were identified. As a result, the PSRM leader came out with an almost ultimatum demand that the head of state nominate a new prime minister by February 1, whose candidacy could be considered immediately after the parliament returned from winter holidays. Maia Sandu's position is very unenviable indeed. Any step, action or statement of hers is examined by the opposition under a magnifying glass in order to find the slightest pretext for criticism. The president's attempts to act as carefully and cautiously as possible, in particular regarding the Dniester problem in negotiations with Kiev, have already provided the necessary ground for the socialists to launch the parliamentary forms of control, gradually shifting the center of political activity to the legislature. They have also showered the Constitutional Court with all kinds of requests with no legal but quite obvious political implications. The Constitutional Court's negative decision on the parliamentary self-dissolution actually leaves Maia Sandu with the only possible course of action - to nominate a candidate for the country's prime minister. In the context of an extremely low trust between the presidency and the deputy corps, many of whom are ready to vote for anyone, proposing an authoritative manager able to start implementing the presidential election program may become the best solution in terms of chances of success. Such developments and the content of Sandu's program will make Igor Dodon and the Socialist Party face a difficult choice, when the political support of the new Cabinet will have a very specific negative electoral impact on the PSRM. Initiatives on nominating the technical candidates for the prime minister's office or "no-go" figures like Renato Usatii and Vladimir Voronin look like much more risky ways to solve the difficult task to dismiss the parliament, since they can further complicate first person's already precarious position. To retain the political initiative and support its former leader and current president, the PAS party came up with a proposal to develop a roadmap and sent a draft document to all parliamentary factions, the final goal of which should be early elections to the country's legislature. According to expert assessment, such a gesture from Sandu's retinue is a tacit recognition of their hopeless position, which will force the Sandu-loyal deputy group to roll back from its previous principled positions and seek support from the socialist counter-partners. Meanwhile, other minority factions and groups of people's representatives are speaking more and more openly about their willingness to stabilize the domestic situation by approving a new government. In particular, we are talking about the Sor faction ready to nominate its head of the Cabinet, as well as about the Pro Moldova deputies. The latter held recently an informal meeting with the Socialist Party representatives, during which they discussed the situation normalization in the republic and ensuring the state institutions functionality. Given the current context, there is reason to believe that a candidate for the Head of the Cabinet post trusted by the President won't meet the political support from the current parliament. This will be a demonstrative gesture against Maia Sandu, who challenged the country's entire political system. At the same time, the second attempt to appoint a government might achieve the necessary consensus among MPs in the form of 51 votes, thus minimizing the prospect of parliament dissolution. It seems that the socialists are trying to establish themselves at the top of the internal political processes and to take hold of all decisions concerning the future fate of parliament and overall political developments. At the same time, the party leaders seem to be still lacking the final position on this issue and might act ad hoc, with a view to the consistent weakening of the president and drawing the maximum political benefits.