Moldovan PM to leave office, won’t run for new term

Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Recean announced on Monday that he will not seek another term, clearing the path for a new head of government after the pro-Western Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) won a decisive parliamentary election.

President Maia Sandu’s PAS secured a clear majority in the September 28 vote, positioning the party to form a new government in the coming weeks with a mandate to strengthen Moldova’s alignment with the European Union and further distance the country from Russia’s influence.

In a joint press conference with parliamentary speaker Igor Grosu, Recean, a pro-EU leader who has been in office since February 2023, said he would also relinquish his parliamentary seat and return to the private sector once the new government is installed.

“My term ends simultaneously with that of the current government,” he stated. “Immediately after we approve the new government in parliament, I will resign my mandate.”

The Constitutional Court of Moldova is scheduled to validate the election results on October 16. Following this, President Sandu is expected to nominate a new prime minister, who will then present a cabinet for parliamentary approval.

The incoming prime minister will face the challenge of revitalising Moldova’s economy, which has been weighed down by the impact of Russia’s invasion of neighbouring Ukraine.

PAS’s victory represents a setback for the opposition bloc that had sought to reduce Moldova’s ties with the European Union, and also signals a blow to Russian interests in the region, where Russian troops remain stationed in a pro-Russian separatist enclave in eastern Moldova.

PAS has set a strategic goal of securing Moldova’s membership in the European Union by 2030, reinforcing the country’s pro-European trajectory following decades of post-Soviet independence.

By Tamilla Hasanova