PAS

Igor Grosu, the Prime Minister-designate proposed by Moldova's pro-Western President, failed to receive the votes needed to invest his cabinet on Thursday due to a lack of quorum in the parliament.

Grosu said the pro-European Action and Solidarity Party, PAS, which he leads, is still ready to assume responsibility "to manage the pandemic crisis and early parliamentary elections".

The Constitutional Court ruled on Tuesday that a decree issued by President Maia Sandu on February 11, which nominated Natalia Gavrilita as prime minister for a second time, was unconstitutional.

Angela Gramada, director of the Experts for Security and Global Affairs Association, ESGA, said Gavrilita's potential election would put PAS in a bind.

"How will they [PAS] support their own prime minister, whom they didn't vote for?" she asked.

And, as a parliamentary republic, the prerogatives of the new president are limited. Without the support of a parliamentary majority, which would then form a pro-European government, Sandu's political agenda will continuously be countered by Dodon and the PSRM.

Eleven Socialist Party deputies signed a draft bill on Thursday designed to reduce the powers of the National Integrity Authority, the body which verifies the legality of assets and conflicts of interests among state employees.

Thousands of Moldovans rallied on Thursday in Chisinau in front of parliament to protest against the move by the Socialist Party and the outgoing President, Igor Dodon, to prevent the incoming president from running the Security and Information Service, SIS.

Support in the Moldovan parliament for Prime Minister Ion Chicu's coalition government is slipping away, as the Socialist Party, PSRM, and its Democratic Party, PD, allies now only hold 54 of the 101 seats in the legislature - a majority of three.

Moldovan citizens returning home on charter flights organized by the authorities are now obliged - together with the cost of the ticket - to pay for a COVID-19 test on arrival under an order issued on Friday by the Moldovan Civil Aviation Authority.

Ahead of massive protests scheduled for Sunday, August 26, in the main square of Chisinau, Moldova's ruling Democratic Party, PD, has started an aggressive media campaign, claiming Russia is behind the protests.

The campaign has connected political leaders to prominent figures in civil society in Moldova to the Russian secret service, the FSB, which allegedly is behind the protests.

The cancellation of the results of the mayoral election, won last month by Andrei Nastase, was the straw that broke the camel's back for many people in Moldova.

The initial ruling of a local court in Chisinau on June 20 was confirmed on June 25 by the Supreme Court of Justice.