Why Sandu's opponent in Moldova's election has a strong chance and what he says about Ukraine's war

Romanian by passport. Gagauz by ethnicity. Moldovan by career and a second passport. A prosecutor by profession. He is the presidential candidate for Moldova’s pro-Russian Socialist Party.

This is Alexandr Stoianoglo, a presidential contender who could potentially defeat Maia Sandu in Moldova's second election round.

Read more about this politician and what he thinks about the war in Ukraine in the article by Sergiy Sydorenko, the European Pravda editor - The EU, communism, and a "new perspective" on Ukraine: all about Stoianoglo, Moldova’s potential new president.

Stoianoglo’s candidacy appeared unexpectedly after Socialist leader Igor Dodon stepped back, having lost Moscow’s trust and recognising that another defeat would jeopardise his position as party leader.

Stoianoglo lacks experience in public campaigning.

In past elections in Gagauzia, his home region, he was unsuccessful, though he entered parliament in 2009 and 2010 through party lists without active campaigning.

He avoided populist promises, sticking to vague assertions about a better future, which was exactly what voters seemed to want.

Alexandr Stoianoglo is a career prosecutor who climbed the ranks from trainee in Chișinău during the Transnistrian conflict to landing the top prosecutor job in Gagauzia by 1995.

He served in the prosecutor’s office until 2007, eventually becoming Moldova's deputy attorney general, then entered politics, aligning with forces previously opposed to Dodon and his allies.

2009 was a pivotal year for Moldova. After elections that saw the Communist Party once again in power, protests erupted, escalating into a revolution marked by the storming and vandalising of the parliament and presidency buildings. The details and causes of these events remain unclear to this day.

In the snap elections held that year, a coalition of pro-European forces narrowly won, including the Democratic Party, through which the relatively unknown Alexandr Stoianoglo entered parliament and became a deputy speaker.

This period has become a key part of Stoianoglo's campaign.

Running as the candidate of a pro-Russian party, he emphasises his support for Moldova in Europe at every opportunity.

His pro-European stance has become an electoral asset, though many observers in Moldova question its sincerity, with no direct evidence either way.

The only significant parliamentary vote in which he refused to align with other pro-European colleagues was Moldova’s 2012 decision to condemn communism.

Part of the electorate may be put off by Stoianoglo's indirect support for Ilan Shor, a former Moldovan oligarch involved in the theft of a billion euros, who is currently hiding in Moscow and acting as a "hand of the Kremlin" in Moldovan politics. For many voters, anything related to Shor is considered toxic, and so now Sandu is trying to establish a strong, albeit artificial, connection between them.

Additionally, it matters that Stoianoglo is Gagauz. Opinions like "Can a Gagauz really govern Moldova?" are not uncommon on social media.

Finally, another issue for Stoianoglo is that the state language, Romanian, is not his mother tongue, and his proficiency is far from ideal.

The policy Stoianoglo would pursue if elected remains unclear. Despite the criticism directed at him, it must be acknowledged that he is not an agent of the Kremlin, neither openly nor covertly.
However, he is also certainly not a genuinely pro-European politician.

Stoianoglo is careful to avoid specifics regarding the Russian war in his statements. He has never used the phrase "Russian aggression against Ukraine", at least during the campaign, and prior to his candidacy, despite his alleged "Europeanness", he did not find the courage to condemn Russia's criminal invasion.