On November 12, at the initiative of the Socialist Party, the Government led by Maia Sandu, the leader of the Action and Solidarity Party, part of the ACUM Bloc, was dismissed with the vote of 63 deputies. It happened after the Executive assumed responsibility for amending the Law of the Prosecutor’s Office. According to the new stipulations, Maia Sandu, as Prime Minister, was to select the candidates for the position of Prosecutor General and to submit them for approval to the Superior Council of Prosecutors and the President Igor Dodon. The Socialists opposed it. The Democrats voted together with the Socialists, dismissing the Government.

To find what will follow after the Parliament dismissed the Government ZdG asks the experts.  

Valeriu Muravschi, Ex-Prime Minister

We had expected this outcome. I told Maia Sandu from the outset that Dodon would betray them as soon as the ACUM Bloc will try to clean up the system. 

The system, which Vladimir Plahotniuc, fugitive oligarch and former leader of the Democratic Party, had left as inheritance, was too cancerous. That is why the Democrats also voted with the Socialists. It is in their interest. Do you think they need a Prosecutor General to bring to light their “sins”? 

It’s obvious, there’s no point to look for “sins” in Maia Sandu’s two-room apartment. This coalition had no chance. Yes, it was very romantic to fight with Plahotniuc, to bring down the oligarchy, but not in coalition with the Socialists, who are from the same boat. 

What’s next? I think things had been arranged before the dismissal. They do not want early elections, so the Socialists will team up with the Democrats. They will have a disguised majority and they will pursue their interests, as they had done until five months ago …

Arcadie Suceveanu, Writers’ Union

I had expected the Government to be dismissed, but I also hoped that common sense would prevail and this crisis in Moldova will be overcome. See what fear is doing? The fear of a true justice, the fear of a prosecutor who could bring them to justice, made them blow up the Government … 

We are facing a new crisis now. European funding for Moldova will be cut off again, and without it, this state will go bankrupt. We are on the brink of winter. I don’t know what Dodon’s thoughts are, wherefrom he will get the money … Russia doesn’t even give money to the Transnistrian region anymore … 

What’s next? They will create a new government with the Democrats or with the support of those in the Democratic Party and they will resume doing what they had done before … 

It is difficult to get rid of these monsters and of Moscow. I think the time has come for big protests. I stand for them and I will protest.

Anatol Țăranu, political analyst

What’s next? Most likely, an alliance between the Democrats and the Socialists will follow. Or an alliance with the ACUM Bloc, if the ACUM Bloc has enough political vision to negotiate such a combination. 

The most favorable slogan for the ACUM Bloc, according to me, is “Teamed up with the Socialists we have eliminated Plahotniuc, now, in partnership with the Democrats, we will eliminate President Igor Dodon – the corrupt and the country traitor.” 

The fact that the Democrats, along with the Socialists, voted the dismissal is absolutely logical. They are in opposition … The Democratic Party brought this government down, in order to obtain the possibility of negotiating their participation in governing, so their action was absolutely logical, they created an opportunity for themselves. 

A renegotiation of the Socialists-ACUM Bloc governance agreement is not excluded. But if that happens, the ACUM Bloc gets back to negotiations with the Socialists from very weak positions. In this case, the ACUM Bloc will have to give in to the Socialists at least half of the government. 

I believe that the Socialists have an interest in renegotiating the agreement with the ACUM Bloc, to maintain the appearance of pro-European politics, to receive money from Europe, but to promote the politics of Moscow even more effectively. I think this is the first option for the Socialists. If they fail, then, they will go for an alliance with the Democrats.

Dorin Chirtoaca, President of the Liberal Party

The point today is not about the fall of the Government led by the Prime Minister Maia Sandu, but about another slap given to the justice and the rule of law, a knife in the back of every Moldovan… 

The truth about Dodon and the Socialists has been unveiled. Dodon, the Socialist Party and the Democratic Party have once again shown that they are capable of anything, in order to obstruct the election of an independent Prosecutor General. They do the same as Plahotniuc did. The Socialists and their eternal allies from the Democratic Party have brought down the Sandu Government to inherit Plahotniuc’s mafia system … 

From now on, the countdown begins for them all, as in summer it began for Plahotniuc.