Moldovan Socialists May Come to Regret Power-Grab

The speed with which Chicu was installed, two days after Sandu lost a confidence vote and not long after the Socialists won control of the capital, has led some observers to accuse the Socialists of a premeditated plan. Sandu said the Socialists were running scared of her anti-corruption agenda.

"You are so cowardly that you cannot say openly that you are afraid of true justice," Sandu said after she lost the no-confidence vote.

Chicu says his government has no formal political affiliation. But six out of 10 of its ministers are former advisers to Dodon, the de facto leader of the Socialists.

"Now they have the president, the speaker of parliament, the government and the mayor of Chisinau," said political analyst Valeriu Ostalep. "No one in Moldova in the past 20 years has ever had such power." But such power may prove a double-edged sword given the extent of the challenges facing Moldova, he warned.

Considerable challenges

Chicu has pledged to press ahead with economic and rule-of-law reforms as sought by the EU, but echoed Dodon in stressing the need for balance in Moldova's policy towards the West and Russia.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev (R) and President of the Socialists Party in Moldova PSRM, Zinaida Greceanii (L) shake hands after signing documents for collaboration during their meeting in Moscow, June 8, 2017. Photo: EPA/Dmitry Astakhov

The new prime minister's past statements, however, cast doubt over the sincerity of his commitment to "intensify" relations with Brussels.

On October 17, then an advisor to Dodon, Chicu took to Facebook to denounce two former EU envoys whom he accused of bringing "disaster to our country", and who "dictated the 'success story'" of Moldova after...