General Information
On April 28, 2021, Moldova’s Constitutional Court canceled a state of emergency introduced to combat COVID-19 infections. This enabled President Maia Sandu to dissolve parliament and call for an early election on July 11, 2021.
At stake in this election:
-
101 seats in Parliament of Moldova
Description of government structure:
-
Chief of State: President Maia SANDU (since 24 December 2020)
-
Head of Government: Prime Minister Aureliu CIOCOI (since 14 November 2019)**
-
Assembly: Moldova has a unicameral Parliament composed of 101 seats.
**Acting Prime Minister following resignation of Prime Minister Ion CHICU (December 23, 2020)
Description of electoral system:
-
The President is indirectly elected by parliament to serve a 4-year term.
-
The electoral system is two-rounds. 61 votes are needed (the votes of three-fifths of elected legislators). If more than two candidates run and none achieves this threshold, there is a runoff between the top two candidates within 10 days. If two or fewer candidates run and none achieves this threshold, there is a repeat election within 30 days. If no President is elected after a repeat election, the acting President dissolves Parliament, and there are new legislative elections. Parliament may be dissolved once per year.
-
The Prime Minister is designated by the President upon consultation with Parliament.
-
In the Parliament (Parlament) 101 members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system to serve 4-year terms.
-
There is a 2 percent threshold for independent candidates, a 5 percent threshold for individual parties, 7 percent for electoral blocks of two parties, and 9 percent for electoral blocks of three or more parties. An election is valid only if one-third of registered voters turn out.
Last Election:
-
The last parliamentary election of Republic of Moldova was held on 24 February 2019. It resulted in a stalemate and a coalition government led by the now current President SANDU to petition the Constitutional Court and urge snap elections to be held later in that year.
Main candidates in this election:
Electoral Block of Communists and Socialists / Blocul electoral al comuniștilor și socialiștilor
-
Leaders: Vladimir VORONIN (PCRM) and Igor DODON (PSRM)*
-
Seats won in last election: 37
Party of Action and Solidarity / Partidul Acțiune și Solidaritate (PAS)
-
Leader: Igor GROSU
-
Seats won in last election: 15
Dignity and Truth Platform Party / Partidul Platforma Demnitate şi Adevăr (PPDA)
-
Leader: Andrei NĂSTASE
-
Seats won in last election: 11
Democratic Party of Moldova / Partidul Democrat din Moldova (PDM)
-
Leader: Pavel FILIP
-
Seats won in last election: 10
-
Leader: Ilan ȘOR
-
Seats won in last election: 9
Pro Moldova***
-
Leader: Andrian Candu
-
Seats won in last election: 7
*Newly founded political alliance formed between the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova (PCRM) and the Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova (PSRM) as of 13 May 2021
** Formerly, Socio-Political Movement "Equality" or Ravnopravie (led by Republican Ilan ȘOR)
***Separated from Democratic Party of Moldova / Partidul Liberal Democrat din Moldova (PLDM)