Politics of Moldova

A survey by the Washington-based non-profit International Republican Institute, coordinated by US performance-based consulting company Gallup Organization, reveals that far more people want the country to join the European Union than its Kremlin-backed alternative.

Moldova's new Minister of Defence, Eugen Sturza, says he intends to develop and modernise Moldova's military, in a move that risks worsening tension between Chisinau and Moscow.

The Constitutional Court on Tuesday approved a draft bill signed by 35 MPs to amend the law so that the official language is classified as Romanian instead of Moldovan.

The draft was initiated two weeks ago by a small group of MPs from Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova and signed by other pro-European deputies in parliament.

Moldova's government appointed a new defence minister on Tuesday after a lengthy row over the post between the pro-European, Democratic Party-led cabinet and pro-Russian President Igor Dodon.

Eugen Sturza, 32, was sworn in at a ceremony at the presidential palace led by parliament speaker Andrian Candu, acting as interim president while Dodon was briefly suspended.

Moldova's main pro-European opposition parties agreed on Monday to run joint lists for the 2018 parliamentary elections amid concerns that the new electoral system will help the larger parties.

A group of ruling Liberal Democrat MPs plan to amend Moldova's constitution so that Romanian becomes the official language instead of Moldovan, as the law currently states.

The Liberal Democrats last Thursday said that they had collected the 34 signatures needed to submit the draft to the Constitutional Court for approval.

Several cities in Moldova are bracing for demonstrations, as Socialist supporters of the pro-Russian President, Igor Dodon, get ready to take to the streets on Sunday.

They will protest against a decision of the Constitutional Court that annulled a referendum that would have allowed the head of state to dissolve parliament and call early elections.

Moldovan President Igor Dodon has banned the participation of the country's military personnel in the multinational military exercises Rapid trident, which will be held from September 7 to 23 in Ukraine, writes Nezavisimaya Gazeta, quoted by Focus.

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Moldovan President Igor Dodon on Wednesday night gave journalists a tour of the presidential residence in the village of Condrita, a few kilometers away from the capital, Chisinau.

After a 90-minute press conference on current affairs in the salon, Dodon took his guests on a trip around the presidential villa, including the basement, where he keeps his wine.

Moldova's President Igor Dodon is facing a backlash from political opponents and civil society activists after announcing that he intends to accompany Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin to the breakaway region of Transnistria and decorate Russian peacekeepers on the 25th anniversary of their deployment later this week.