PSRM

Moldova's autonomous region of Gagauzia goes to elections on Sunday for a new governor, or Bashkan, with eight candidates in the race, most of them with pro-Russian views.

The elections in Gagauzia represent a first test before local elections throughout the country due in autumn, and for presidential elections that will take place next year.

Former Moldovan president Igor Dodon on Wednesday said his detention on Tuesday on treason charges was "a political case", claiming that the governing pro-European Action and Solidarity Party, PAS, was pusuing a vendetta.

Several thousand people in Moldova's capital Chisinau took part in an "Immortal Regiment" march on Monday, organised by the pro-Russian Socialist Party, PSRM, many of them breaking a new law that bans the display of symbols glorifying the former Soviet communist regime.

Moldovan deputies taking a vote in the parliament. Photo: EPA/Doru Dumitru

"Maia Sandu will organise these elections from her office, as 120 million lei [about 6 million euros] are needed for the elections, and parliament will not vote for that," Dodon said, referencing the pro-EU President seeking early polls.

The ambassadors of 22 EU member states issued a joint statement on Thursday afternoon rejecting the public attacks on the EU Ambassador to Moldova, Peter Michalko, by the pro-Russian Socialist Party, PSRM, and Shor Party, led by a fugitive oligarch, Ilan Shor.

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.

Faced with criticism of his paid trip to Moscow, which Russian officials booked and covered, Moldova's ex-President, Igor Dodon, has responded by insisting that he could only visit Russia with an official invitation as a result of pandemic rules.

Moldova's pro-Western President Maia Sandu stepped deeper into an all-out confrontation with parliament on Thursday when she rejected its nomination of a new prime minister - and again put forward a rival candidate with no support among MPs.

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.

The US embassy in Moldova reacted angrily on Thursday after the Moldovan parliament cancelled the sale of the former Republican Stadium in Chisinau intended for a new US embassy.