Chicu Risks Losing his Majority in Moldovan Parliament

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.

The government's majority has shrunk after several deputies quit the Democrats to join the Pro Moldova faction led by the former speaker, Andrian Candu, who is also the godson of the fugitive tycoon Vlad Plahotniuc.

Others have joined the Shor Party, led by Ilan Shor, considered the mastermind of the so-called "grand theft" of about a billion US dollars from the Moldovan banking system between 2012 and 2014.

Meanwhile, the pro-European opposition formed by the Action and Solidarity Party, PAS, led by former prime minister Maia Sandu, and the Dignity and Truth Platform Party, PPDA, led by Andrei Nastase, are pondering their prospects of ousting the cabinet. The Socialists and Democrats joined forces to overthrow Sandu and her pro-European administration in November 2019.

Chicu considers himself a technocrat, but was a former economic advisor to the pro-Russian President of Moldova, Igor Dodon

Sandu told a press conference on Wednesday that the government was faltering - but a no-confidence motion would not be introduced into parliament until there were enough votes to carry it.

"The Chicu government cannot effectively manage the health crisis, so we face major health problems. We are concerned that this government is not doing anything to help businesses. It is making no effort to obtain resources from abroad," Maia said, listing what she considered its key failings.

PPDA leader Nastase said Moldova needed a new government that could get the country out of its impasse and meet the...