She wants to be the president of compromise in a very divided country. Elected with 55% of the votes against a rival supported by the pro-Russians, Alexandr Stoianoglo, Maia Sandu, 52, recalled in her victory speech that she had “heard all the voices, including the critical voices”, promising to 'to be the president of “all”. The first woman to occupy, in 2020, the highest positions in this state located between NATO and the Russian sphere of influence, Maia Sandu has long sought to accommodate Russian President Vladimir Putin while normalizing his relations in the West. Before the invasion of Ukraine, she was the president of a small post-Soviet republic.
She is today a leading European personality, reinforced by her victory on Sunday in the second round of the election. A European personality now because since neighboring Ukraine has been living under the Kremlin's bombs, she has insisted that the 2.6 million Moldovans must integrate into the European family as quickly as possible.
His discreet personality and his shy smile contrast with his courage and his, according to Emmanuel Macron, “determination” to defend a “clear course” for his country in the face of interference from Moscow, which has little relish for its desires for independence. Born under the USSR in the village of Risipeni, on the Romanian border, she was barely an adult when her country gained independence in 1991. With a degree in management and international relations, she began her career behind the scenes of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Economy but, disappointed by the failings of his country, left to work for the World Bank, first in Chisinau then in Washington.
A tenacious president
Until the “whirlwind” that brought her to the presidency: in 2012 she received “an unexpected offer” and agreed to “divide her income by 15” to occupy a ministerial portfolio, that of Education. “I didn’t plan to become a politician,” she confessed during a 2022 speech to students at Harvard University, where she studied. “But I decided that not wanting to live in a country run by corrupt people” did not necessarily mean “having to change country.” Faced with “difficulties” and “hate speech”, she says she is learning “resilience”. And don't give up. Placing surveillance cameras in examination rooms, it reduced the baccalaureate success rate from 95% to 59%. Enough to send the message: we no longer pay for diplomas. In power, Maia Sandu understands that in a system corrupted by oligarchs, she must found her own team. In 2016, she created the Action and Solidarity Party (PAS) thanks to her savings but lost in the presidential election.
She chases away corruption
She entered Parliament before being briefly appointed Prime Minister and, following a spectacular corruption scandal – 12% of GDP disappeared in a few months – she won the supreme election in 2020 with 57.7% of the votes. . Judging to have been underestimated by her adversaries who saw her and her team as “a bunch of intellectuals”, she chased away corruption and launched a vast program of reforms, which remains unfinished in the justice system. We need to go “faster”, she admitted on Sunday evening.
As soon as the first bombs rang out in Ukraine, Maia Sandu cut ties with Moscow, welcomed tens of thousands of refugees and knocked on the door of the European Union (EU), her “Marshall Plan”.
Tour towards Europe
In June 2023, she made a mark by inviting 46 heads of state and government to the summit of the European Political Community, something never seen before in this country little accustomed to honors. A year later, accession negotiations with the EU are formally opened. Fluent in Romanian, English and Russian, the Moldovan president enjoys the “respect and recognition” of Western leaders, comments Armand Gosu, a Romanian historian specializing in former Soviet countries and Russia, for AFP. “She represents a great opportunity for Moldova,” he believes, stressing that she is probably the first leader of the country “of such international stature”.
