Maya Sandu – the first female president in the history of Moldova

“Time for decent people,” was the motto of Maya Sandu, a 48-year-old Harvard graduate, who won a landslide victory in the second round of the November 16 presidential election, becoming Moldova’s sixth president.

57.75% of voters voted for Maya Sandu, leader of the Action and Solidarity party, and 42.25% for incumbent Igor Dodon. To get elected president, it is enough to get half of the votes. The incumbent president, who has been in office since December 2016, accepted his defeat and congratulated Sandu. By the way, she is the first female president in the history of Moldova.

Maya Sandu set a new record with the number of votes received. 943 486 people elected her in absolute numbers. The previous record belonged to the second president of Moldova, Peter Luchinski (1997-2001), who in 1996 was elected by 919,800 people.

Sandu announced her victory when 97.9% of the ballots were cast, and she was leading with 54.95%. She noted that she is proud of her team and all the young people who took part in the voting. Sandu noted that her priority will be the unity of Moldovan society.

“First of all, we must unite the society divided as a result of these elections. “We must unite the country in order to build the economy and bring our people home from abroad,” she said.

It should be reminded that in the first round of the elections held on November 1, she could not get the necessary 50% +1 votes. 36.16% of eligible voters voted for her and 32.61% for Dodon.

Who is Sandu?

Maya Sandu was born on May 24, 1972, in the village of Risipen, Moldova. In 1989-1994 she studied at the Moldovan Academy of Economic Education, in 1995-1998  studied at the Faculty of International Relations of the Academy of Public Administration under the President of Moldova, in 2010 graduated from the Harvard Institute. Fluent in English, Romanian, Russian and Spanish. She is not married,  has no children. According to Wikipedia, she lives in a 74-square-meter two-room apartment in the capital, Chisinau. Drives a 2007 Toyota RAV4 car.

Sandu has been in politics for many years. From June 8 to November 19, 2019, she held the post of Prime Minister, before that she was the Minister of Education in 2012-2015. From 2010 to 2012  worked as an Advisor to the Executive Director of the World Bank.

As a joint candidate of the pro-center opposition forces, she also participated in the 2016 presidential elections.

In the first round of elections held on October 30, 2016, she received 38.71% of the vote, taking second place. In the second round held on November 13, she received 47.89% of the vote, losing to Igor Dodon, who received 52.11% of the vote.

About Sandu’s plans

In an interview with Dolce Vella after the first round of elections, Maya Sandu said she wanted to lift Moldova out of poverty and help the authorities pay attention to the needs of its citizens.

She described the division of pro-European and pro-Russian Moldovan society as artificial, it is used for political purposes. She noted that she intends to conduct a balanced and pragmatic dialogue with all countries, including Russia, Romania, Ukraine and the United States, based on the national interests of Moldova.

“I want all Moldovan citizens to live well, regardless of the language they speak, regardless of their ethnicity. “I must work for any person in our country to look to the future with confidence, not to worry about himself or his family,” he said.

As for her vision for the Transnistrian conflict settlement, the female politician said in the same interview that the previous government did not have a strategic approach to the settlement.

“The first possible step to change the situation is to stop the smuggling of gas and energy businesses as well as Transnistria smugglers, through which corrupt Moldovan officials receive illegal income,” she said.

Full text in Armenian