Weekly Roundup Part 2: Pride and Political Updates
June 18, 2025
Hello and welcome back to Moldova Matters! This past week has been pretty heavy on the news so we’ve decided to break the Weekly Roundup into 2 parts. Yesterday we covered the top international affairs, security, Transnistria and Shor / Hybrid war news of the week. Today we’re back with part 2 that will focus on domestic politics. If you haven’t become a paid subscriber to Moldova Matters already - please consider supporting this work financially. For just $8 / month you can really help support all the work that goes into this newsletter.
Pride March Held in Chisinau
On Sunday June 15th LGBTQ+ rights organization Genderdoc-M held the annual Pride March in downtown Chisinau. The organization celebrated a successful Solidarity March and claims over 1,000 participants attended this year. Genderdoc-M wrote in their press release that they would like to “extend our sincere thanks to law enforcement for their professionalism and openness in ensuring the peaceful march in a safe environment.” As in past years the march faced opposition from “traditional family” groups and police and carabinieri1 worked to maintain order as competing marches traveled through downtown Chisinau.
There were numerous challenges and controversies around this year’s march so we’ll look at the sequence of events prior to the march and the aftermath.
The Lead-up to the March
Here’s a roundup to some of the key events preceding the march:
Chisinau Mayor Ion Ceban banned the pride march. The ban was voted through the Municipal Council by MAN, Socialist and Communist members with PAS deputies walking out and calling it a political show. The ban had no legal effect because the Mayor is not constitutionally permitted to prevent peaceful protest and the organizers obtained a permit and made necessary arrangements with the police.
A fake letter allegedly by Genderdoc-M Director Angelica Frolov called on all schoolchildren to attend the protest. The letter was sent by email to an unknown number of recipients, at least one being the Newsmaker editorial office. It claimed the “support of state institutions and the ruling party Action and Solidarity (PAS)” for the project of bringing all children to the march. Genderdoc-M noted that they don’t collaborate with any political parties and Newsmaker notes that the email follows a similar format to other fake mailings targeting state visits and other major events.
Staged(?) video circulates of men kissing in a Chisinau park and then being beat up. In the video the men are filmed by unknown persons and heckled. The men are then beaten up and one is thrown into a lake. Angelica Frolov, director of Genderdoc-M, states that the video appears to be staged, noting that the men are very drunk and seem not to react normally (aka running away) to being attacked. She claims that a main called the organization’s office saying he was the neighbor of one of the men in the video and that the man has physical and mental disabilities. Police are looking into the incident, but noted that they had not received a complaint. Frolov wrote:
"Someone took advantage of his vulnerability to publish a video online that provokes hatred. On the eve of Moldova Pride. Several months before the elections. Now I am sure that this is a setup,"
Arina Spataru2, leader of the ALDE party, announced her support for this year’s Pride March. She noted that while her party supports “traditional family values” that the rights and freedoms of all citizens must be respected. She stated:
"A moral state and society is one that has the courage to protect minorities, not suppress them. Public morality also means living in truth and compassion, not in fear and hatred," …
“Jesus Christ accepted and loved those whom society rejected and condemned hypocrisy and public condemnation.”
Counter “March in Defense of the Family” announced for the same day. The march was first announced by the Socialist Party, with Vasile Tarlev’s Future of Moldova Party later announcing that they would also march in opposition. The Metropolitanate of Moldova clarified that Orthodox Priests would be permitted to participate in the counter marches as well.
March and Counter Protest
The Solidarity March was planned to progress down Bucharest street in central Chisinau but problems quickly emerged. Police and carabinieri were present in large numbers to assure security but the roads had not been closed as Mayor Ceban refused to accommodate the march. Marchers then blocked traffic themselves to allow the procession to move on to side streets and continue towards the planned end point.
Counter protesters attempted at points to break through police cordons resulting in violent clashes. One man in particular tried to push through the police lines with his small son on his shoulders, resulting in a disturbing video where the man is grappling with police and swinging his child upside down by one foot.
Video of this can be seen on facebook. Warning - it may be disturbing to some viewers.
Police managed to maintain separation between the counterprotestors and Pride and marchers completed their route via the hastily arranged alternative route.
Aftermath and Investigations
The Ministry of Internal Affairs commented on the marches writing:
“several groups of parishioners, mobilized in an organized manner, came with the intention of preventing another public demonstration and confronting law enforcement agencies, whose mission was to ensure the safety of all participants and maintain public order at all public events.” …
"the Ministry of Internal Affairs indicates deliberate mobilization and external influence aimed at escalating social tensions and weakening trust in state institutions"
They noted that more than 10 police officers and carabinieri were attacked in the process, though none suffered serious injuries.
Moldova’s People's Ombudsman for Children's Rights, Vasile Coroi, called for a criminal investigation into the man who attacked officers with his child in hand. He also called on social services to evaluate the child’s situation and the competency of his guardians and to “take appropriate measures based on the results of these assessments.”
The Bishop of Soroca, Ioan Mosnegutu, supported the man saying that he brought his child as an "expression of respect for the family." Multiple pro-Russian politicians and some church leaders blamed the police for the violence and for creating a situation that threatened the child.
Moldova On the Right Track - According to IRI Poll
A new series of polls released by Center for Insights in Survey Research / IRI show that 49% of Moldovans think the country is going in the right direction (48% wrong direction, 3% unsure). This is a 20 year high for right track / wrong track polling. When asked to list their top problems respondents noted cost of living 39%, low income 26%, corruption 20% and unemployment 18%.
These numbers did not translate into popularity for the ruling party in the poll, which found that PAS has the support of a majority of voters going into parliamentary elections, but not necessarily enough to form a government. 36% of respondents claimed that they would vote for PAS. The next closest was the Communist and Socialist Bloc (BECS) at 17% and the Alternative Bloc at 12%. No other party exceeded the threshold to get into parliament. The closest was Renato Usati’s “Our Party” at 4% followed by the amorphous “Pobeda” bloc of Shor parties at 3%. 18% of respondents indicated that they wouldn’t vote, weren’t sure or refused to answer.
If all of these undecided / apathetic voters did stay home, and the poll proved to be accurate, then PAS would attain a small majority in parliament3.
Other Political Updates
Here’s a roundup of the top politics stories of the week:
PAS announces 3 new candidates for its party list in the September elections. Former Minister of Labor Marcel Spătari will candidate for PAS as will musician Nicolae Botgros, writer Constantin Cheianu and Gagauzian agribusiness owner Maria Akbash. Marcel Spătari gained substantial popularity as a PAS minister who played a key role in government during the outbreak of war, particularly for his work supporting Ukrainian refugees. The other selections mark a shift in strategy for PAS. Nicolae Botgros was formerly a supporter of the Democratic Party and ran for parliament as an independent in 2019. Maria Akbash ran in 2021 on the list of the Civic Congress party, now part of Mayor Ceban’s Alternative Bloc. Political experts note that PAS appears to be recruiting well known figures from outside of their current coalition, both to broaden their appeal and to increase their communications reach with different communities.
The Chisinau airport may be renamed in honor of Eugen Doga. Following the death of the famous composer, petitions have circulated and the Minister of Infrastructure Vasile Bolea announced that he supported the initiative and would bring it to the government. President Sandu visited the late composer’s widow and later stated that she supports the initiative as well. The President urged the government to quickly support this initiative.
Technical problems created chaos at the airport on June 9th. The airports website and entire computer system went offline causing 2 flights to be cancelled and numerous delays. Passengers noted that staff were filling out tickets by hand as none of the check-in computers worked. Passengers complained on social media that they couldn’t figure out their gates4 and showed pictures of hand written tickets. Systems were restored within around 2 hours. Minister of Infrastructure Bolea stated that the cause of the problem was overnight bombing in Ukraine that had created dozens of power outages over the border and triggered an equipment failure at the airport. The exact nature of the failure was not reported.
Speaker Grosu and Education Minister Perciun announced a 1000 lei subsidy to all schoolchildren at the start of next school year. They explained the move as a policy to support families in buying needed school supplies. Critics called the move “electioneering” and stated that the ruling party was using administrative resources ahead of the elections. Former PAS MP Olesea Stamate stated that the party she used to belong to had lost its way writing “Everything they criticized during previous governments, they end up doing themselves.”
The Central Election Commission (CEC) has published a new draft regulation on electoral blocs5. The regulation would create a ban on “camouflaged blocs” which are defined as political forces that coordinate for elections without registering officially as blocs. It also prohibits blocs from using the names and symbols of one of their constituent parties, requiring them to develop joint or new branding for the bloc. Symbols and names of parties that have been declared unconstitutional are also banned. Finally, blocs are clarified to only compose constituent parties, and “independent” candidates that are not part of said parties are not permitted to participate in a bloc. This could pose a problem for Alexandr Stoianoglo who is a member of the Alternative Bloc but is nominally an independent. Additionally, the Alternative Bloc’s name resembles that of MAN (National Alternative Movement) and the party’s colors are used. The Alternative Bloc protested outside of the CEC claiming that PAS is attempting to block them from participating in the elections. Blocs registration this cycle begins on June 20th.
** Correction: a previous version of this article incorrectly stated that block registration ends on June 20th. This was a typo and has been corrected.
The CEC met with representatives of Google and Meta to discuss disinformation around the elections. Both companies confirmed that they are prepared to cooperate with the CEC around issues of “combating disinformation and transparency of political and election advertising on the Internet.”
Moldova ranked 7th in the Global Gender Equality Index. The index, which is put out annually by the World Economic Forum, ranked Moldova 7th globally and 6th in Europe. This is a rise of 6 places since 2024 and the country overtook Germany, Ireland and Sweden this year. Moldova’s biggest lead comes from the number of women in positions of power with 40% of ministerial positions in the country held by women, nearly twice the global average of 22.9%. Iceland was #1 this year, Pakistan last among the 142 countries ranked. Ukraine was at #62, Romania #94 and the United States at #42.
Transnistria Crisis Updates
Even since yesterday’s newsletter the economic crisis in Transnistria seems to have deepened. Transnistrian “leader” Vadim Krasnoselsky addressed a meeting of the regional authorities yesterday saying that the situation has become critical and financial reserves are exhausted. The region’s “Minister” of Economic Development stated that industrial production had fallen by 43% in the first 5 months of 2025, the energy sector by 50% and metal production and the chemical industry by more than 60%.
The region’s exports are down by more than 30% excluding electricity which isn’t being exported at all due to the natural gas shortage and Moldova’s purchasing from Romania. Krasnoselsky claims that they no longer have solutions to replenish their budget and he called on the “government” to “urgently develop specific measures to avoid financial and social collapse.”
Moldova’s Reintegration Bureau reiterated that Moldova and the EU are prepared to provide humanitarian support for the region subject to the Transnistrian authorities fulfilling key conditions. Namely, release of political prisoners, opening free access to journalists, respecting human rights in the region and others.
The Carabinier are a gendarmerie style military police force. They are responsible for public order, especially crowd control, but also serve ceremonial roles and guard critical infrastructure (such as embassies). They do not have police powers of arrest or investigation which is the purview of the National Police.
Recall Arina “007” Spataru went undercover after Shor tried to recruit her into his movement and worked with prosecutors to expose elements of his political bribery network.
Here’s a caveat that we’ll likely return to again and again - we just don’t know if we can trust the polls. Polling companies in Moldova are thought to have solid methodology and have had a decent track record in elections without massive Kremlin interference. But as Valeriu Pasa recently wrote - there are multiple reasons to believe that voter bribery and other interference can skew the polls ahead of this vote.
Let’s be honest, not knowing precisely which gate you are meant to be at in the Chisinau airport does not count as a major crisis. If this happened in Istanbul of Frankfurt it would be a disaster. In Chisinau, there is a common seating area for all 5 gates and it is very rare that more than one plane is departing at a time.
A bloc is formed when multiple political parties join together with a common list of candidates for elections.
appreciate your clarifying comment about the gates at the airport. when I was reading the story, I thought "so what's the big deal...getting to your gate is very simple at KIV" (is it still KIV?) :)