39 Facts About Maia Sandu

Maia Sandu is a Moldovan politician who has been the President of Moldova since 24 December 2020.

Maia Sandu is the former leader of the Party of Action and Solidarity and former Prime Minister of Moldova from 8 June 2019 until 14 November 2019.

Maia Sandu was Minister of Education from 2012 to 2015 and member of the Parliament of Moldova from 2014 to 2015, and again in 2019.

Maia Sandu was selected as the joint candidate of the pro-European PPDA and PAS parties for president of Moldova in the 2016 election.

Maia Sandu was born on 24 May 1972 in the commune of Risipeni, located in the Falesti District in the Moldavian SSR of what was then the USSR.

Maia Sandu's parents were Grigorie and Emilia Sandu, a veterinarian and a teacher, respectively.

From 2010 to 2012, Maia Sandu worked as Adviser to the executive director at the World Bank in Washington, DC Maia Sandu speaks English and Russian in addition to her native Romanian.

Maia Sandu was considered on 23 July 2015 by the Liberal Democratic Party as a nominee to be the next Prime Minister of Moldova, succeeding Natalia Gherman and Chiril Gaburici.

In 2016, Maia Sandu was the pro-European candidate in the Moldovan presidential election.

In September 2016, Maia Sandu instituted proceedings against the State Chancellery, asking to see the minutes of the Cabinet meeting at which the state guarantees for the three bankrupt banks had been approved.

Maia Sandu violated this self-imposed commitment after agreeing to form a coalition government along with the Party of Socialists in early June 2019.

On 8 June 2019, Maia Sandu was elected Prime Minister of Moldova in a coalition government with PSRM.

Under Maia Sandu, Moldova began taking steps towards the European Union as Maia Sandu herself is pro-E.

Maia Sandu was ousted as prime minister on 12 November 2019, following a vote of no confidence.

Maia Sandu remained as a caretaker of the office until the formation of a new government.

However, on 24 December 2020 Maia Sandu took office as state president, after winning a landslide election against the Pro-Russian Igor Dodon, and again on a pro-E.

Maia Sandu announced her candidacy for the 2020 presidential election on 18 July, declaring that a joint pro-European candidate would not be needed as there was no risk of there being no pro-European candidates in the second round.

Maia Sandu officially launched her campaign on 2 October 2020, holding 2 speeches in Romanian and Russian both promising to fight corruption and poverty, and to reform the criminal justice system, while accusing President Dodon of deliberately hindering the latter.

Maia Sandu was congratulated on her win by senior leaders of the European Union, as well as Presidents Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan, Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, and Klaus Iohannis of Romania.

Maia Sandu was congratulated by President of Russia Vladimir Putin, who initially endorsed Dodon.

Maia Sandu was sworn in on 24 December 2020 in the Palace of the Republic.

The very next day, Maia Sandu asked MPs to reject her proposed Prime Minister in order to speed up the process of its dissolution and early elections.

The Constitutional Court of Moldova declared the decree unconstitutional, reasoning that Maia Sandu should have accepted a proposal from 54 MPs to instead nominate Mariana Durlesteanu, a former Moldovan ambassador to the United Kingdom.

Maia Sandu declared afterwards that she would not continue consultations, but would not nominate another candidate for Prime Minister.

Maia Sandu had previously stated she would only receive vaccination when it was certain Moldova would have enough vaccines to vaccinate its entire population.

In mid-January 2021, Maia Sandu announced that the Supreme Security Council would be reorganized.

Maia Sandu is a supporter of Moldova's European integration, the country's entry into the European Union, as well as the resumption of cooperation with the International Monetary Fund.

Maia Sandu met EU and Belgian political figures in Brussels in January 2021.

Furthermore, when asked about how she would vote in case there was a referendum on the unification of Romania and Moldova, Maia Sandu replied that she would personally vote "yes".

Maia Sandu met with Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and parliament speaker Dmytro Razumkov.

Maia Sandu paid tribute to fallen Ukrainians at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the National Museum of the Holodomor-Genocide.

Maia Sandu noted that she intends to visit Kyiv and Brussels before going to Moscow, highlighting her more pro-EU stance.

In 2023, Maia Sandu stated that Moscow had sought to overthrow her country's government, echoing accusations made by Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Maia Sandu accused Russia of trying to orchestrate violent attacks in Moldova to overthrow the government and institute a government that would be more friendly to Russia and derail the plans to join the European Union.

Maia Sandu has expressed her view that Operational Group of Russian Forces should withdraw from the breakaway region of Transnistria, saying to RBK TV that, although they guard ammunition depots, "there are no bilateral agreements on the OGRF and on the weapons depots".

Maia Sandu stated that its her position that the "mission should be transformed into an OSCE civilian observer mission".

In September 2021, during an interview at a local television station, Maia Sandu was asked to describe the events that took place in 1992 and lead to the Transnistria War, to which she replied:.

Maia Sandu further explained that the Transnistria conflict was an artificial problem created in order to stop Moldova from gaining its independence and that other former Soviet countries experienced the same thing.

Maia Sandu stated that Moldova is looking exclusively for a peaceful and diplomatic solution in the Transnistria conflict.