Marian Lupu-2025: Back to Political Arena

Anton ŠVEC

A lot grayer now but just as experienced and skillful, Marian Lupu has announced his return to politics

On Tuesday, the plans to hold the parliamentary elections in September were revealed. With six months before the vote, the ruling party is in a tricky position. Consolidation of the opposition and uneasy relations with other projects on the right flank, as well as strategic mistakes in the economy and foreign policy pose challenges to the PAS dictatorship. Media PR, symbolic distribution of money to budgetary employees, and continued praise from the EU bureaucracy are not enough to offset the flaws of the governance. The party’s ratings are plummeting, and the speaker of parliament has even talked about possibly going into opposition this autumn. The opponents of the regime, Veaceslav Platon and Vladimir Plahotniuc, having legal problems in the UK and Russia, are good news for Sandu and her team, yet with little impact on the election campaign. Minor reshuffles in the government (appointment of a new energy minister and dismissal of Dumitru Alaiba, who has been constantly criticized), aimed solely at rotation and access to the treasury by persons from among the PAS party activists, are also useless. The dismantling of justice and the judiciary in the interests of the regime, negatively perceived by relevant international organizations and voters, affects the ratings and political prospects of the current parliamentary majority. Under these conditions, the competitiveness is growing, while substantively it boils down to pumping the political spectrum with the maximum number of projects that are most loyal to the authorities or, at least, willing to make a deal. Marian Lupu is a former communist and head of the legislative body, leader of the Democratic Party and one of the creators of the first Alliance for European Integration, who served as acting president and again as speaker of parliament, spent five years in the shadow and then was appointed head of the Court of Accounts. He will lead the Respect Moldova party, registered in 2023 by Eugeniu Nichiforciuc. To announce his intentions, Lupu chose the most neutral platform possible – the internet programme hosted by journalist Gheorghe Gonta. Lupu’s political reincarnation is a notable political occasion, both because of the project’s goal-setting and the caliber of the new leader of Respect Moldova. Lupu has already announced that the party would be center-left, with a focus on accelerated and socially oriented development of the country. At the same time, he intends to consolidate the civic nation, and his political organization will favor the strategic project of Moldova’s European integration, “but only as a sovereign and neutral state”. The curtsy towards the EU is a tribute to the established tradition and an attempt not to spoil the historically constructive relations with Brussels. Especially since Marian Lupu was one of the initiators of introducing the European course in the programme of the Communist Party about 20 years ago. Nevertheless, the described strategy of Respect Moldova suggests that Lupu has no plans to compete and take away pro-European and pro-Romanian votes from PAS. On the contrary, the emphasis will be on the left flank, where Igor Dodon and Vladimir Voronin, as well as to some extent Irina Vlah and her Heart of Moldova are key actors. The issues of economic growth, social justice, sovereignty, neutrality and civic identity, despite their universality, resonate as much as possible with the PSRM and PCRM platforms. Marian Lupu will not be ideologically able to enter into a coalition with the leftist leaders, including because of serious personal offences and mutual accusations. However, Respect Moldova, if properly promoted, is quite capable of taking votes away from them, given the political experience of its new leader, as well as possible access to financial resources through Eugeniu Nichiforciuc. The Heart of Moldova and the Communists may not make it to the parliament outside the bloc with PSRM, as each of these two parties alone is on the verge of electoral threshold. They will definitely face problems if a media campaign is launched against them with the participation of Lupu, who knows a lot about Vladimir Voronin. Meanwhile, Igor Dodon is in no hurry to unite the left wing under his banner and is still considering whether to repeat the Alternative’s maneuver. In these conditions, Marian Lupu could be the “destroyer” of the two left-wing parties. And even if the consolidation of the left sector takes place, the votes for Respect Moldova will be proportionally distributed among all parliamentary forces, which could save PAS one or two mandates. Summing up, Marian Lupu’s return to the party system and the electoral race is not an attempt to enter power and influence the situation in the country. It is obviously not about winning the upcoming elections. Rather, it is a political technology aimed at disorganizing PCRM and PSRM. To what extent this decision is synchronized with the current dictatorial regime or whether it is an initiative of the former democrats and Marian Lupu personally, with the aim of reaching a subsequent agreement with the authorities, time will show. One thing is certain – the days when Lupu was the most influential politician and parliamentary speaker irrevocably passed into history almost 12 years ago.