avian historical personality Moldavian Principality in 1483 Soroca Fort was built on the site of the former Genovan fortress Olihonia (Alciona) Territories of the medieval Principality of Moldavia are now split between Romania (western Moldavia with southern Bukovina) in blue, Moldova (core of Bessarabia) in green, and Ukraine (southern Bessarabia and Chernivtsi oblast) in red. Capriana is one of the oldest monasteries in Moldavia A deputy replaces the Soviet flag over the Parliament with the national one on April 27, 1990 St. Teodora de la Sihla Church in Downtown Chisinau In accordance with the Treaty of Bucharest of 1812 and despite numerous protests by Moldavians on behalf of their autonomous status, the Ottoman Empire (of which Moldavia was a vassal) ceded to the Russian Empire the eastern half of the territory of the Principality of Moldavia along with Khotyn and old Bessarabia (modern Budjak). At first, the Russians used the name "Oblast of Moldavia and Bessarabia", allowing a large degree of autonomy, but later (in 1828) suspended the self-administration and called it Guberniya of Bessarabia, or simply Bessarabia, starting a process of Russification. The Tsarist policy in Bessarabia was in part aimed at ethnic assimilation of the Romanian element by forbidding after the 1860s education and religious mass in Romanian; the effect was an extremely low literacy rate (in 1897 approx. 18% for males, approx. 4% for females).[10] The western part of Moldavia (which is not a part of present-day Moldova) remained an autonomous principality, and in 1859, united with Wallachia to form the Kingdom of Romania. The Treaty of Paris (1856) saw three counties of Bessarabia—Cahul, Bolgrad and Ismail—returned to Moldavia, but the Treaty of Berlin (1878) saw the Kingdom of Romania returning them to the Russian Empire. Over the 19th century, the Russian authorities[11] encouraged colonization of parts of the region by Ukrainians, Lipovans, Cossacks, Bulgarians,[12] Germans,[13] Gagauzes, and allowed the settlement of more Jews; the proportion of the Moldovan population decreased from around 86% in 1816[14] to around 52% in 1905.[15] 20th century World War I brought in a rise in political and cultural (ethnic) awareness among the locals, as 300,000 Bessarabians were drafted into the Russian Army formed in 1917; within bigger units several "Moldavian Soldiers' Committees" were formed. Following the Russian Revolution of 1917, a Bessarabian parliament, Sfatul Tarii, which was elected in October–November 1917 and opened on December 3 [O.S. November 21] 1917, proclaimed the Moldavian Democratic Republic (December 15 [O.S. December 2] 1917) within a federal Russian state, and formed its government (December 21 [O.S. December 8] 1917). MPs of the Moldavian Republic in 1918 Upon the dissolution of the Russian Empire in 1917, an autonomous, then independent Moldavian Democratic Republic was formed, which joined Greater Romania in 1918. In 1940, Bessarabia was occupied by the Soviet Union, and was split between the Ukrainian SSR and the newly created Moldavian SSR. After changing hands in 1941 and 1944 during World War II, the territory of the modern country was subsumed by the Soviet Union until its independence on August 27, 1991. Moldova was admitted to the United Nations in March 1992. Bessarabia proclaimed independence from Russia (February 6 [O.S. January 24] 1918), and, on April 9 [O.S. March 27] 1918, in presence of the Romanian army that entered the region to counter a Bolshevik coup attempt in early January, Sfatul Tarii decided with 86 votes for, 3 against and 36 abstaining, to unite with the Kingdom of Romania, conditional upon the fulfillment of the agrarian reform, autonomy, and respect for universal human rights. The Romanian administration dishonored these conditions after Bukovina and Transylvania also joined the Kingdom of Romania.[16][17][18][19][20] This union was recognized by the Principal Allied Powers in the Treaty of Paris (1920).[21] The newly Communist Russia, however, did not recognize the Romanian rule over Bessarabia as well as calling it illegal since Japan did not ratify the treaty.[22] and, in May 1919, proclaimed the Bessarabian Soviet Socialist Republic as a government in exile. After the failure of the Tatarbunary Uprising in 1924, the Moldavian ASSR was formed. In August 1939, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and its secret additional protocol were signed, by which Nazi Germany recognized Bessarabia as being within the Soviet sphere of influence, which led the latter to actively revive its claim to the region.[23] Although USSR and Romania subscribed to the principle of non-violent resolution of territorial disputes in the Kellogg-Briand Treaty of 1928 and the Treaty of London of July 1933, on June 28, 1940, after issuing an ultimatum to Romania, the Soviet Union, with the moral support of the Nazi Germany, occupied Bessarabia and northern part of Bukovina, establishing the Moldavian SSR,[23] comprising about 70% of Bessarabia, and 50% of the now-disbanded Moldavian ASSR. This event led to a major political shift in Romania, which denounced its alliance with France and Britain, and drew the country closer to Nazi Germany and eventually the establishment of pro-Fascist regimes. By participating in the 1941 Axis invasion of the Soviet Union, Romania seized the lost territories of Bessarabia, and northern Bukovina, but its military regime also continued the war further into Soviet territory. In occupied Transnistria, Romanian forces, working with the Germans, deported or exterminated ca. 300,000 Jews, including 147,000 from Bessarabia and Bukovina (of the latter, approximately 90,000 perished).[24] The Soviet Army re-captured the region in February–August 1944, and re-established the Moldavian SSR. Around 150,000 Moldovan soldiers perished during WWII, including ca. 50,000 in the Romanian Army (including POWs), and ca. 100,000 in the Soviet Army. During the Stalinist period (1940–1941, 1944–1953), deportations of locals to the northern Urals, to Siberia, and northern Kazakhstan occurred regularly, with the largest ones on 12–13 June 1941, and 5–6 July 1949, accounting from MSSR alone for 18,392[25] and 35,796 deportees respectively.[26] Other forms of Soviet persecution of the population included 32,433 political arrests, followed by Gulag or (in 8,360 cases) execution, collectivization, destruction of private economy, and infrastructure (mostly during the 1941 retreat). In 1946, as a result of a severe drought combined with excessive delivery quota obligations and requisitions imposed by the Soviet government, the southwestern part of the USSR suffered from widespread famine.[27] In 1946-1947, at least 216,000 deaths and about 350,000 cases of dystrophy were accounted by historians in the Moldavian SSR alone.[26] Similar events occurred in 1930s in the Moldavian ASSR.[26] In 1944-53, there were several anti-Soviet resistance groups in Moldova; however the NKVD and later MGB managed to eventually arrest, execute or deport their members.[26] The postwar period saw a wide scale migration of ethnic Russians, Ukrainians, and other ethnic groups into the new Soviet republic, especially into urbanized areas, partly to compensate the demographic loss caused by the emigration of 1940 and 1944.[28] The Soviet government conducted a campaign to promote a Moldovan ethnic identity, different from that of the Romanians, based on a theory developed during the existence of the Moldavian ASSR. Official Soviet policy asserted that the language spoken by Moldovans was distinct from the Romanian language (see Moldovenism). To distinguish the two, during the Soviet period, Moldovan was written in the Cyrillic alphabet, in contrast with Romanian, which since 1860 was written in the Latin alphabet. Not all things under the Soviets were negative, however, and, after the death of Stalin, political persecutions changed in character from mass to individual. Moreover, in the 1970s and 1980s, the Moldavian SSR received substantial allocations from the budget of the USSR to develop industrial and scientific facilities as well as housing. In 1971, the Council of Ministers of the USSR adopted a decision "About the measures for further development of the city of Kishinev" (modern Chisinau), that allotted more than one billion Soviet rubles from the USSR budget for building projects,[29] subsequent decisions also directed substantial funding and brought qualified specialists from other parts of the USSR to develop Moldova's industry. All independent organizations were severely reprimanded, with the National Patriotic Front leaders being sentenced in 1972 to long prison terms. The Commission for the Study of the Communist Dictatorship in Moldova is assessing the activity of the communist totalitarian regime. In the political conditions created by the glasnost and perestroika, a Democratic Movement of Moldova was formed, which in 1989 became known as the Popular Front of Moldova (FPM),[30][31] whose ideology was based on romantic nationalism. Along with several other Soviet republics, from 1988 onwards, Moldova started to move towards independence. On August 27, 1989, the FPM organized a mass demonstration in Chisinau, that became known as the Grand National Assembly, which pressured the authorities of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic to adopt a language law on August 31, 1989 that proclaimed the Moldovan language written in the Latin script to be the state language of the MSSR. Its identity with the Romanian language was also established.[30][32] Independence The first democratic elections for the local parliament were held in February and March 1990. Mircea Snegur was elected as Speaker of the Parliament, and Mircea Druc as Prime Minister. On June 23, 1990, the Parliament adopted the Declaration of Sovereignty of the "Soviet Socialist Republic Moldova", which, among other things, stipulated the supremacy of Moldovan laws over those of the Soviet Union.[30] After the failure of the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, on August 27, 1991, Moldova declared its independence. On December 21 of the same year Moldova, along with most of the other Soviet republics, signed the constitutive act that formed the post-Soviet Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Moldova received official recognition on December 25. On December 26, 1991 the Soviet Union ceased to exist. Declaring itself a neutral state, it did not join the military branch of the CIS. Three months later, on March 2, 1992, the country gained formal recognition as an independent state at the United Nations. In 1994, Moldova became a member of NATO's Partnership for Peace program and also a member of the Council of Europe on June 29, 1995.[30] In the region east of the Dniester river, Transnistria, which includes a large proportion of predominantly russophone East Slavs of Ukrainian (28%) and Russian (26%) descent (altogether 54% as of 1989), while Moldovans (40%) have been the largest ethnic group, and where the headquarters and many units of the Soviet 14th Guards Army were stationed, an independent "Transdnestrian Moldovan Republic" (TMR) was proclaimed on August 16, 1990, with its capital in Tiraspol.[30] The motives behind this move were fear of the rise of nationalism in Moldova and the country's expected reunification with Romania upon secession from the USSR. In the winter of 1991-1992 clashes occurred between Transnistrian forces, supported by elements of the 14th Army, and the Moldovan police. Between March 2 and July 26, 1992, the conflict escalated into a military engagement. On January 2, 1992, Moldova introduced a market economy, liberalizing prices, which resulted in huge inflation. From 1992 to 2001, the young country suffered a serious economic crisis, leaving most of the population below the poverty line. In 1993, a national currency, the Moldovan leu, was introduced to replace the temporary cupon. The economy of Moldova began to change in 2001; and until 2008 the country has seen a steady annual growth of between 5% and 10%. The early 2000s also saw a considerable growth of emigration of Moldovans looking for work (mostly illegally) in Russia (especially Moscow region), Italy, Portugal, Spain, Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, and other countries; remittances from Moldovans abroad account for almost 38% of Moldova's GDP, the second-highest percentage in the world.[33] The 1994 parliamentary elections saw the Democratic Agrarian Party of Moldova gain a majority of the seats, setting a turning point in Moldovan politics. With the nationalist Popular Front now a parliamentary minority, new measures aiming to moderate the ethnic tensions in the country could be adopted. Plans for a union with Romania were abandoned,[30] and the new Constitution gave autonomy to the breakaway Transnistria and Gagauzia. On December 23, 1994, the Parliament of Moldova adopted a "Law on the Special Legal Status of Gagauzia", and in 1995 the latter was constituted. After winning the 1996 presidential elections, on January 15, 1997, Petru Lucinschi, the former First Secretary of the Moldavian Communist Party in 1989-91, became the country's second president (1997–2001), succeeding Mircea Snegur (1991–1996). In 2000, the Constitution was amended, transforming Moldova into a parliamentary republic, with the president being chosen through indirect election rather than direct popular vote. Winning 49.9% of the vote, the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova (reinstituted in 1993 after being outlawed in 1991), gained 71 of the 101 MPs, and on April 4, 2001, elected Vladimir Voronin as the country's third president (re-elected in 2005). The country became the first post-Soviet state where a non-reformed Communist Party returned to power.[30] New governments were formed by Vasile Tarlev (April 19, 2001 – March 31, 2008), and Zinaida Greceanîi (March 31, 2008 – September 14, 2009). In 2001–2003 relations between Moldova and Russia improved, but then temporarily deteriorated in 2003–2006, in the wake of the failure of the Kozak memorandum, culminating in the 2006 wine exports crisis. 2009 Moldova civil unrest at the Parliament building Acting President Mihai Ghimpu Following the April 2009 parliamentary elections, the Communist Party won 49.48% of the votes, followed by the Liberal Party with 13.14% of the votes, the Liberal Democratic Party with 12.43%, and the Alliance "Moldova Noastra" with 9.77%. The opposition leaders have protested against the outcome calling it fraudulent and demanded a repeated election. On April 6, 2009, several NGOs and opposition parties organized a peaceful protest in Chisinau, gathering a crowd of about 15,000 with the help of social network sites such as Twitter and Facebook. Anti-communist and pro-Romanian slogans were widely used. The demonstration had spun out of control on April 7 and escalated into a riot when a part of the crowd attacked the presidential offices and broke into the parliament building, looting and setting several floors on fire.[34][35] Police had regained control on the night of April 7–8, detaining several hundred protesters. Numerous detainees reported beatings by the police when released.[35][36] Three young people died the day the riot took place. The opposition blamed police abuse for these deaths, while the government claimed they were either unrelated to the protests, or accidents. Government officials, including President Vladimir Voronin, have called the protests a coup d'état attempt and have accused Romania of organizing it.[37] Opposition accused the government of organizing the riots by introducing provocateurs among the protesters. After the parliament failed to elect a new president,[38] it was dissolved and snap general elections were held on July 29, 2009, with the Communists again attaining a substantial, although weakened, plurality both in popular vote and in parliamentary seats: 48 of the 101 seats for the Party of Communists, 18 seats for the Liberal Democratic Party, 15 seats for the Liberal Party, 13 seats for the Democratic Party, and 7 seats for the Our Moldova Alliance. In August, the latter four parties formed an alliance and approved the Vlad Filat Cabinet in parliament. After Voronin's resignation in September 2009, the Speaker of the Moldovan Parliament, Mihai Ghimpu, became the acting President of Moldova. Elections in Moldova since 1917  v • d • e  Election Parties and parliamentary seats President of Parliament Prime minister President 1917 See Sfatul Tarii and Moldavian Democratic Republic Ion Inculet Erhan, Ciugureanu, Cazacu Ion Inculet 1940-1984 Communist Party 100% Brovko, Codita, Iliasenco, Calin, Mocanu, Ciobanu, Snegur Konstantinov, Coval, Rudi, Diordita, Pascari, Grossu, Ustian, Calin - 1990 Popular Front, Communist Party Snegur, Mosanu Druc, Muravschi, Andrei Sangheli Mircea Snegur 1994 PDAM 56, BePSMUE 28, BTI 11, BeAFPCD 9 Lucinschi, Motpan Sangheli, Ciubuc Snegur, Lucinschi 1998 PCRM 40, BECD 26, PMDM 24, PFD 11 Dumitru Diacov Ciubuc, Sturza, Braghis Petru Lucinschi 2001 PCRM 70, Braghis Alliance 19, PPCD 11 Eugenia Ostapciuc Vasile Tarlev Vladimir Voronin 2005 PCRM 56, BEMD 34 (AMN 22, PDM 8, PSL 4), PPCD 11 Marian Lupu Vasile Tarlev, Zinaida Greceanîi Vladimir Voronin 2009 (April) PCRM 60, PL 15, PLDM 15, AMN 11 Calin, Voronin Zinaida Greceanîi Vladimir Voronin 2009 (July) PCRM 48, AIE 53 (PLDM 18, PL 15, PDM 13, AMN 7) Mihai Ghimpu Greceanîi, Pîrlog, Filat Voronin, Ghimpu Government and politics Main article: Politics of Moldova The Moldovan Parliament Moldova This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Moldova Constitution Constitution Human rights Parliament Parliament Speaker Mihai Ghimpu Judiciary Constitutional Court Supreme Court Executive Acting President Mihai Ghimpu Prime Minister Vlad Filat Cabinet Divisions Administrative division Elections Elections Political parties Foreign policy Foreign relations Moldova and the EU Other countries · Atlas Politics portal view • talk • edit Moldova is a unitary parliamentary representative democratic republic. The 1994 Constitution of Moldova sets the framework for the government of the country. A parliamentary majority of at least two thirds is required to amend the Constitution of Moldova, which cannot be revised in time of war or national emergency. Amendments to the Constitution affecting the state's sovereignty, independence, or unity can only be made after a majority of voters support the proposal in a referendum. Furthermore, no revision can be made to limit the fundamental rights of people enumerated in the Constitution.[39] The country's central legislative body is the unicameral Moldovan Parliament (Parlament), which has 101 seats, and whose members are elected by popular vote on party lists every four years. The head of state is the President of Moldova, who is elected by Moldovan Parliament, requiring the support of three fifths of the deputies (at least 61 votes). The president of Moldova has been elected by the parliament since 2001, a change designed to decrease executive authority in favor of the legislature. The president appoints a prime minister who functions as the head of government, and who in turn assembles a cabinet, both subject to parliamentary approval. The Constitution also establishes an independent Constitutional Court, composed of six judges (two appointed by the President, two by Parliament, and two by the Supreme Council of Magistrature), serving six-year terms, during which they are irremovable and not subordinate to any power. The Court is invested with the power of judicial review over all acts of the parliament, over