“Down with Plahotniuc!”, “Now or never!”, “Moldovans, unite!” protesters will shout outside the Moldovan parliament, in a spontaneous meeting against the approval of the new cabinet. “Judas!” they will cry as Mihai Ghimpu, leader of the Liberal Party, makes his way past, beaten and confused.
This is all still to come. A few hours earlier, Ghimpu entered the parliament calmly to vote for the election of a new prime minister. Several people in the crowd outside throw snowballs, but the politician pays no attention, smiling and waving his hand in response.
“The country has lived for two months without a government”
On the afternoon of 20 January, deputies hastily gathered for a special session of parliament. Their task? To approve the government of Pavel Filip, a candidate from Moldova’s Democratic Party, which is controlled by the country’s main oligarch Vlad Plahotniuc. The Cabinet had found out that parliament will support their proposal only a few hours earlier. As the parliamentary speaker Adrian Candu explained: “the country has lived for two months without a government.” Protesters blockade the exit to the Moldovan parliament. Photo (c): Andrey Ghilan Indeed, yesterday’s parliamentary session was held in a half-empty hall. “This meeting should be called not special, but extraordinary, judging by how it’s being conducted,” said Oleg Reidman, a Communist Party deputy. “Two hours to get people in the parliament is totally inadequate. How did you expect people to get here on time and take part in this meeting? You are depriving them the opportunity to speak and ask questions.”
