2019 Moldovan parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in Moldova on 24 February 2019[1] in order to elect the 101 members of the Parliament of Moldova. The Constitution mandates that elections be held no later than four years and three months from the date of inauguration of the previous legislature.[2]

2019 Moldovan parliamentary election

24 February 2019
All 101 seats in Parliament 51 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	49.24% ( 8.04%)
First party Second party   Leader Zinaida Greceanîi Vladimir Plahotniuc Party PSRM Democratic Leader since 2016 2016 Last election 25 seats, 20.5% 19 seats, 15.8% Seats won 35 30 Seat change 10 11 Popular vote 441,191 334,539 Percentage 31.15% 23.62% Swing 10.65pp 7.85pp   Third party Fourth party   Leader Maia Sandu Andrei Năstase Ilan Shor Party ACUM Șor Leader since 2016 2016 Last election – – Seats won 26 7 Seat change New New Popular vote 380,181 117,779 Percentage 26.84% 8.32% Swing New New
The left map shows the winning party in the territorial election commissions, the right map shows the party of the winner in the single mandate constituencies.   PSRM   ACUM (DA and PAS)   PDM   Șor   Independents
Prime Minister before election Pavel Filip PDM Elected Prime Minister Maia Sandu PAS

The elections were held under a parallel voting system, replacing the closed-list proportional system used in Moldova at all previous parliamentary elections since independence. The campaigning period began in November 2018 and continued up until the election day.[3]

Candidates from four parties were elected to Parliament: the Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova, the Democratic Party of Moldova, the ACUM electoral alliance of DA and PAS, and the Șor Party. The Party of Communists failed to obtain any seats for the first time since independence.

The results were confirmed by Moldova's Constitutional Court on 9 March 2019.[4]

The results triggered a constitutional crisis in June.

Electoral system

The 101 seats in the Parliament were elected using a parallel voting system introduced in 2017; 50 MPs were elected by proportional representation in a single nationwide constituency, with the other 51 elected from single-member constituencies.[5][6]

For the nationwide constituency, the electoral threshold varies depending on the type of list; for single parties or organisations it was 6%; for alliances of two parties it was 9%, and for alliances of three or more parties it was 11%. For independent candidates the threshold was 2%. Turnout must be at least 33% to validate the results.[7] There is still controversy against the new election system and a referendum in 2018 against it was considered possible.[5][8]

Parties

#[lower-alpha 1]	Name				Ideology	Leading candidate(s)
1		PDM		Democratic Party of Moldova	Social democracy	Vladimir Plahotniuc
2		ACUM	DA	Dignity and Truth Platform	Populism	Andrei Năstase
			PAS	Party of Action and Solidarity	Liberalism	Maia Sandu
3		PCRM		Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova	Moldovenism	Vladimir Voronin
4		PSRM		Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova	Democratic socialism	Zinaida Greceanîi
5		Șor		Șor	National conservatism	Ilan Șor
6		MPA		Anti-Mafia Popular Movement	Populism	Sergiu Mocanu
7		PPPN		Our Party	Social conservatism	Ilian Cașu
8		PNL		National Liberal Party	National liberalism	Vitalia Pavlicenco
9		PPVP		People's Will	Neoconservatism	Ștefan Urâtu
10		PRM		Party of Regions of Moldova	Regionalism	Pavel Kalinin
11		PPDA		Democracy at Home	Populism	Ion Leașcenco
12		MPSN		Hope Professionals' Movement	Populism	Andrei Donică
13		PPP		Motherland	Conservatism	Sergiu Biriucov
14		PPPVE		Ecologist Green Party	Green politics	Anatolie Prohnițchi
15		PL		Liberal Party	Conservative liberalism	Dorin Chirtoacă

Opinion polls

Vote

Poll results are listed in the table below in reverse chronological order, showing the most recent first, and using the date the survey's fieldwork was done, as opposed to the date of publication. If such date is unknown, the date of publication is given instead. The highest percentage figure in each polling survey is displayed in bold, and the background shaded in the leading party's colour. In the instance that there is a tie, then no figure is shaded. The "Lead" column on the right shows the percentage-point difference between the two parties with the highest figures. When a specific poll does not show a data figure for a party, the party's cell corresponding to that poll is shown empty. The threshold for a party to elect members is 6%.

Date	Polling firm/source	PSRM	PLDM	PCRM	PDM	PL	PPPN	PPEM	ACUM		Șor	PUN	Others	Lead	Decided
									DA	PAS
2019
3–16 February	IMAS	33.8	ACUM	4.8	25.2	1.7	2.3		21.8		9.8	[lower-alpha 2]	0.7	8.6	76.9
19–31 January	IMAS	34.8	ACUM	6.8	22.5	1.7	1.6		23.4		8.2	[lower-alpha 2]	1.2	11.4	81.9
19–31 January	CBS-AXA	42.8	ACUM	2.4	19.3	0.9	2.8		25.1		5.8	[lower-alpha 2]	1.0	17.7	–
17–26 January	iData	41.0	ACUM	3.8	20.6	<1.0	1.9		25.6		5.4	[lower-alpha 2]	1.4	20.4	78.0
4–19 January	ASDM	49.2	ACUM	3.5	19.3	<1.0	2.8		19.1		4.4	[lower-alpha 2]	1.7	29.9	82.4
5 December 2018 – 16 January 2019	IRI	43.3	2.2	3.3	15.5	1.1	2.2		10.0	14.4	5.6		2.2	27.8	89.0
2018
11–23 December 2018	IMAS	35.6	1.2	6.5	20.7	1.6	2.5	0.7	11.0	11.0	6.3	1.1	0.6	14.9	81.1
28 November–10 December 2018	ASDM	48.4		3.0	17.9		2.3		9.4	12.8	4.2		2.0	30.4	82.2
1-20 November 2018	ASDM	44.1		2.6	15.5		3.1		13.5	14.5	3.9		2.8	29.5	-
9-23 November 2018	BOP	45.5	1.0	3.4	15.0	1.6	2.4	0.2	9.9	14.6	5.9	0.2	0.4	30.5	-
20 October–9 November 2018	IMAS	36.0	1.7	7.7	20.9	2.0	3.7	1.6	9.4	8.5	6.6	0.7	1.1	15.1	75.2
11 September–16 October 2018	IRI	36.5	<1.0	4.6	13.7	1.1	2.3	<1.0	13.7	13.7	4.6		1.1	22.8	87.6
1-12 September 2018	ASDM	47.3		2.7	14.5		2.1		13.7	15.4	1.6		2.7	31.9	-
26 June–7 July 2018	ASDM	49.7		2.8	13.5		2.5		15.9	11.1	1.2		3.3	33.8	74.9
15–28 March 2018	ASDM	50.5		2.9	10.7	0.8	2.6	1.8	8.9	19.3	0.8	0.7	1.1	31.2	73.1
7 February–7 March 2018	IRI	43.9		4.9	9.8	2.4	2.4	2.4	4.9	24.4		1.2	2.4	21.5	83.0
16 February–6 March 2018	IMAS	38.9	0.8	7.9	16.2	2.0	3.4	3.2	7.3	16.4	3.2	0.5	0.2	22.5	-
2–18 January 2018	ASD	50.4		2.3	10.6	1.0	2.0	1.6	5.4	24.1	1.1	0.7	0.7	26.3	-
2017
18 November–5 December 2017	BOP	47.6	1.1	4.5	5.1	2.7	4.4	1.4	6.2	22.5	2.9	0.7	0.5	25.1	-
20 November–2 December 2017	ASDM	51.2	1.0	2.3	6.9	1.2	2.0	1.9	4.8	25.9	0.7		1.9	25.3	64.3
7–29 October 2017	Ziarul Timpul FOP	50.3	1.5	3.7	6.2	1.7	3.2	1.8	4.1	25.9	1.6		-	24.4	88.4
23 September–17 October 2017	IRI	34.0	<1.0	4.0	9.0	1.0	2.0	2.0	4.0	23.0	1.5		0.5	11.0	81.0
9–20 September 2017	CBS-Axa	51.1		4.5	6.0	1.2	3.9	1.3	5.8	24.1			2.1	27.0	50.8
22 June–9 July 2017	IMAS	42.3	1.0	6.4	11.7	2.2	5.2	2.2	7.5	19.2	1.3		1.0	23.1	50.8
7–25 April 2017	CBS-Axa	52.7		3.7	3.5	1.1	3.7	1.3	6.0	26.6	1.0		0.4	26.1	60.3
23 March–17 April 2017	BOP	43.6	0.2	4.3	4.9	1.0	4.1	1.7	6.0	32.2	1.0		1.0	11.4	75
10–19 March 2017	Ziarul Timpul FOP	54.2	0.6	2.6	4.3	0.6	2.5	1.4	5.6	28.2			-	26.0	89.3
13 February–7 March 2017	IRI	36.0	<1.0	4.0	4.0	<1.0	6.0	1.0	5.0	29.0			4.0	7.0	87
18–27 January 2017	CBS-AXA	51.2		4.2	4.3	0.5	3.2	0.9	5.8	28.5			1.5	22.7	63.3
2–10 January 2017	ASDM	49.0	1.0	3.5	9.5	1.5	8.0	2.0	12.0	11.0			2.5	37.0	77
2016
13 November 2016	Igor Dodon (PSRM) is elected President of Moldova
6–16 October 2016	IPP	39.0	1.0	4.0	11.5	1.5	11.5	2.5	13.0	14.0			2.0	25.0	67
29 September–9 October 2016	Intellect Grup	32.0	1.0	6.5	16.5	2.0	9.0	3.5	13.0	15.5			1.0	15.5	79
28 September–5 October 2016	ASDM	34.4	1.9	6.5	11.4	4.0	9.3	5.6	14.3	12.6			-	20.1	-
21 September–8 October 2016	CCSM	32.2	1.5	3.2	15.8	2.8	7.9	5.1	11.6	19.8			-	12.4	78.3
19–28 September 2016	Intellect Grup	30.6	1.4	7.2	14.4	4.1	10.1	4.2	13.2	15.0			-	15.6	83.5
14–25 September 2016	CBS-AXA	35.6	0.7	7.3	13.5	3.2	13.3	3.9	12.7	9.9			-	12.1	82.2
1–23 September 2016	IRI	29.0		5.0	12.0	1.0	8.0	3.0	13.0	14.0			1.0	15.0	86
2–10 September 2016	ASDM	27.7	2.7	8.7	11.9	5.5	11.5	7.9	10.3	13.8			-	13.8	92.6
11–24 June 2016	Intellect Grup	23.0	1.7	11.6	10.9	4.4	15.9	4.9	10.9	16.9			-	6.1	76.9
21 May–15 June 2016	FOP	28.7	1.5	8.6	8.0	3.3	13.6	7.2	12.4	16.7			-	12.0	91.5
May 2016	NDI	21.0	<1.0	12.0	8.0	5.0	13.0	5.0	18.0	16.0			-	3.0	76
16–23 April 2016	IPP	28.0	0.5	8.0	5.0	2.5	19.0	5.0	14.0	17.5			0.5	9.0	64
1–10 April 2016	ASDM	21.0	3.5	7.5	7.5	6.0	14.5	6.5	16.0	9.0			8.5	5.0	84
11–25 March 2016	IRI	20.0	2.0	6.0	7.0	2.0	21.0	4.0	12.0	12.0			2.0	1.0	88
11–20 March 2016	FOP	24.5	0.5	10.0	7.0	3.0	18.0	7.0	15.0	14.5			0.5	6.5	88
10–21 February 2016	ASDM	22.0	3.0	8.0	8.5	7.5	16.5	8.5	17.5				8.5	5.5	78
5–13 February 2016	CBS-AXA	21.5	1.0	5.0	7.0	2.0	33.0	6.0	14.0	10.5			-	11.5	60
8–16 January 2016	ASDM	23.5	3.0	7.0	9.0	8.0	20.5	9.0	12.5				7.5	3.0	72
2015
11–30 November 2015	NDI	21.0	3.0	12.5	5.5	7.0	22.5	10.0	17.0				1.5	1.5	71
8 November–1 December 2015	IPP	15.0	2.0	11.0	9.0	7.0	24.0	18.0	10.0				4.0	6.0	67
10–18 November 2015	ASDM	22.5	3.5	7.5	9.5	8.0	21.0	9.5	8.5				10.0	1.5	72
29 September–21 October 2015	IRI	15.0	3.0	7.0	5.0	5.0	20.0	12.0	7.0				2.0	7.0	76
10–18 September 2015	CBS-AXA	20.0	7.5	10.0	6.5	9.5	23.0	10.0	7.0				6.5	3.0	56
14 June 2015	Local elections	16.6	18.3	10.2	17.6	12.6	11.1	7.6			0.3		6.0	0.7	49
6–18 May 2015	CBS-AXA	28.6	8.7	15.5	6.8	11.7	14.8	14.0					-	13.1	60
1–12 April 2015	ASDM	25.5	14.0	15.5	11.5	15.0	8.5	7.5					2.5	10.0	-
1–26 March 2015	NDI	17.0	10.0	15.0	11.0	13.0	18.0	17.0	7.0				-	1.0	72
22 February–4 March 2015	CBS-AXA	20.8	15.9	20.5	8.2	20.8	9.3	4.4					-	0.0	61
January 2015	CBS-AXA	23.3	21.3	22.8	14.6	18.0							-	0.5	60
30 November 2014	Parliamentary elections	20.5	20.2	17.5	15.8	9.7							16.3	0.3	57

Results

Party/alliance		National list			Constituency			Total seats	+/–
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	Party of Socialists	441,191	31.15	18			17	35	+10
	ACUM Electoral Bloc (DA and PAS)	380,181	26.84	14			12	26	New
	Democratic Party	334,539	23.62	13			17	30	+11
	Șor Party	117,779	8.32	5			2	7	New
	Party of Communists	53,175	3.75	0			0	0	–21
	Our Party	41,769	2.95	0			0	0	New
	Liberal Party	17,741	1.25	0			0	0	–13
	Anti-Mafia Popular Movement Party	8,633	0.61	0	–	–	–	0	0
	Democracy at Home	4,463	0.32	0			0	0	0
	Party of Regions	3,645	0.26	0	–	–	–	0	New
	National Liberal Party	3,430	0.24	0			0	0	0
	Ecologist Green Party	3,249	0.23	0			0	0	0
	Hope Professionals' Movement Party	2,826	0.20	0			0	0	New
	People's Will Party	2,705	0.19	0	–	–	–	0	New
	Motherland Party	1,033	0.07	0	–	–	–	0	New
	Independents	–	–	–			3	3	+3
Invalid/blank votes		40,861	–	–		–	–	–	–
Total		1,457,220	100	50		100	51	101	0
Registered voters/turnout		2,959,143	49.24	–			–	–	–
Source: CEC

Voter turnout

Election year	Time
	9:30	12:30	15:30	18:30	21:00
2014	4.20%	20.98%	39.21%	51.01%	55.86%
2019	5.80%	24.00%	37.41%	45.65%	49.24%
Source: Alegeri

Coalition talks

Following the elections, both the Socialist Party and Democratic Party proposed forming a coalition with ACUM, with the PDM also proposing that the post of Prime Minister would go to an ACUM member, despite PDM being the larger party. However, following the promises made during the campaign, ACUM refused both offers.[9]

On 8 April, ACUM announced that they would reverse their decision about rejecting coalition negotiations with PSRM.[10][11]

After the decision, party leaders, Maia Sandu and Andrei Năstase of ACUM, officially invited PSRM to start coalition negotiations. Maia Sandu and Andrei Năstase said that they still rejected coalition negotiations with PDM, but they were willing to negotiate a deal with PSRM.[10][11]

Coalition negotiations are set to take place on 9 April or on a different day, which will be discussed by ACUM and PSRM.[10][11]

Notes

1. Position number on the ballot.
2. Supporting the ACUM alliance

References

1. Vițu, Valeria. "24 februarie 2019, ziua alegerilor parlamentare în R.Moldova". RFI (in Romanian).
2. "Constitution of Moldova, Article 61". LEX Moldova (in Romanian). Archived from the original on 2013-12-13. Retrieved 2019-02-25.
3. "Moldovan Socialists Kick Off Election Campaign With Chisinau Rally". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. Retrieved 2018-12-18.
4. "Moldova's Constitutional Court Confirms February 24 Vote Result". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. Retrieved 2019-03-11.
5. "Hundreds Protest In Moldova Against New Electoral Law". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. Retrieved 2019-01-11.
6. "New Electoral Law in Moldova Criticised as a Tool to Keep Power". Archived from the original on 2017-09-18. Retrieved 2017-09-17.
7. Electoral system IPU
8. "Anti-Mixed Voting Coalition backs referendum initiative". en.crimemoldova.com. Archived from the original on 2018-01-02. Retrieved 2019-01-11.
9. Moldova's Democratic Party invites pro-EU ACUM bloc to form govt coalition See News, 14 May 2019
10. Media, G4 (2019). "Moldova: Maia Sandu și Andrei Năstase cheamă la negocieri socialiștii pro-ruși ai lui Igor Dodon". G4Media.
11. National, Ziarul (2019). ""ACUM" invită PSRM la DISCUȚII "pentru aducerea R. Moldova pe calea normalității", după ce au refuzat, inițial, invitația socialiștilor". Ziarulnational.