Moldovan President Maia Sandu has announced that she plans to seek reelection next year. The politician, known for her pro-Western stance, also called for a national referendum on potential accession to the EU.
The European Council agreed earlier this month to launch membership talks with Chisinau. In November, Sandu’s Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) secured less than a third of the vote in mayoral and national administrator elections, losing to the opposition in all major cities.
In a Facebook post on Sunday, Sandu asked Moldovans to support her in the presidential election slated for November 2024.
She insisted that “our future lies in the European family and it is necessary to say clearly – the whole country – which path we choose for Moldova.”
“I call on parliament to initiate the holding of a referendum next autumn,” the president added.
Earlier this month, Sandu announced that her government’s goal is to turn Moldova from a “vulnerable state with fragile democracy” into a “strong, modern, resilient, and European state, capable of taking care of its citizens.”
The leader of the opposition Socialist Party, Igor Dodon, who favors closer relations with Russia, claimed in a Facebook post of his own that “after three years in office, Maia Sandu has nothing to offer but a referendum to ‘save’ her from political drowning.”
Dodon declared that Moldovans are “no longer as naive as they were in 2020,” when Sandu was first elected. The population, he claimed, now “associate Maia Sandu not with progress and law, but with poverty, arrogance, and anti-democratic abuse.”
Addressing Moldovan mayors and local leaders earlier this month, Sandu warned that municipalities controlled by “anti-European” forces could be deprived of EU funds.
She went on to suggest that Chisinau has “survived and even begun to develop only thanks to the support of our external partners.”
Sandu’s government has been actively seeking EU membership since 2020, while adopting an increasingly critical position toward Russia. Chisinau has also backed Kiev in its ongoing conflict with Moscow.