Maia Sandu (Romanian: [ˈmaja ˈsandu]; born 24 May 1972) is a Moldovan politician and economist who, since 2020, has served as the sixth president of Moldova. She is the founder and former leader of the Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) and was prime minister of Moldova from June to November 2019, when her government collapsed after a vote of no-confidence. Sandu was minister of education from 2012 to 2015 and member of the parliament of Moldova from 2014 to 2015, and again in 2019.
Sandu was elected president of Moldova during the 2020 Moldovan presidential election. The first female president of Moldova, Sandu is a strong supporter of the accession of Moldova to the European Union, overseeing Moldova's granting of candidate status, and is widely considered "pro-Western". She has criticised and opposed Russia's invasion of Ukraine and supported subsequent steps to reduce Moldova's economic dependence on Russia, frequently expressing sympathy and support for Ukraine in the conflict. Sandu has made anti-corruption, economic reform and liberalisation a central part of her political platform, as well as closer integration with Europe. In February 2023, she accused Russia of seeking to stage a coup of the Moldovan government and has continued to seek to reduce Russia's influence over the country.
Sandu was re-elected president in the 2024 Moldovan presidential election following an electoral campaign defined by geopolitical issues, such as the referendum on amending the constitution to include the desire for EU membership, as well as an unprecedented level of Russian electoral interference.
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Early life and career
Sandu was born on 24 May 1972, in the commune of Risipeni, located in the Fălești District of the Moldavian SSR, which was part of the USSR at the time. Her parents were Grigore and Emilia Sandu, a doctor and a teacher, respectively. Her father died before she became involved in politics. From 1988 to 1994, she majored in management at the Academy of Economic Studies of Moldavia/Moldova (ASEM). From 1995 to 1998, she majored in international relations at the Academy of Public Administration (AAP) in Chișinău. In 2010, she was awarded a Master's degree in public policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. From 2010 to 2012, Sandu served as an adviser to the Executive Director at the World Bank.
Political career
From 2012 to 2015, Sandu served as Minister of Education of Moldova. She was considered on 23 July 2015 by the Liberal Democratic Party as a nominee to serve as the next Moldovan Prime Minister, succeeding Natalia Gherman and Chiril Gaburici.
A day after being proposed by a renewed pro-European coalition, Sandu set the departure of the Head of the National Bank of Moldova, Dorin Drăguțanu, and the State Prosecutor Corneliu Gurin as conditions for her acceptance of the office. Ultimately, Valeriu Streleț was nominated over Sandu by the president of Moldova.
On 23 December 2015, she launched a platform "În /pas/ cu Maia Sandu" ("In step with Maia Sandu") that later became a political party called Party of Action and Solidarity (Romanian: Partidul Acțiune și Solidaritate).
In 2016, Sandu was the pro-European candidate in the Moldovan presidential election. She was selected as the joint candidate of the pro-European PPDA and PAS parties for president of Moldova in the 2016 election. Running on a pro-EU action platform, she was one of the two candidates who managed to reach the runoff of the election. Sandu faced a significant amount of discrimination during the race, including being a target of insults and harassment for being a single woman, as well as being openly attacked by former Moldovan president Vladimir Voronin, who accused her of betraying "family values", alongside describing her as "a laughingstock, a sin, and a national disgrace of Moldova" in remarks that were widely considered as profoundly misogynistic. She rejected the insults in an interview, replying that "I never thought being a single woman is a shame. Maybe it is a sin even to be a woman?" Eventually, Sandu was defeated in the subsequent runoff by the pro-Russian PSRM candidate, Igor Dodon, losing the popular vote by a margin of 48% to 52%.
As of December 2022, Sandu ranks as the most trusted politician in Moldova, polling at 26%, with Igor Dodon following behind at 19%. According to the 2019 opinion polls conducted by Public Opinion Fund, Sandu was ranked as the second most trusted political personality in the country, polling at 24%, closely following Igor Dodon, who polled at 26%, while older polls that year placed her lower, in sixth place.
Controversies
In September 2016, Sandu instituted proceedings against the State Chancellery, demanding that she be given an insight into the minutes of the Cabinet meeting at which the state guarantees for the three bankrupt banks (the Bank of Savings (Romanian: Banca de Economii), Unibank, and the Banca Socială) had been approved. Prime Minister Pavel Filip published on his Facebook page the minutes of the last Cabinet meeting, at the time when the decision on granting the emergency credit to Banca de Economii was adopted. The minutes included the speeches of former Governor of NBM, Dorin Drăguțanu, former Prime Minister Chiril Gaburici, and Sandu's own speeches (from the time when she served as Moldova's minister of education). It is mentioned that, in the end, the decision was voted on unanimously. The minutes were not signed.
Regarding the former leader of Romania, Ion Antonescu, Sandu remarked in 2018 that he was "a historical figure about whom we may say both good and bad things." Her statements were sharply criticised by the Jewish Community of Moldova (CERM). Sandu replied to this in later interviews by stating: "I regret that my words about the dictator Ion Antonescu were made an object of interpretation. [...] Antonescu was a war criminal, rightly condemned by the international community for war crimes against Jewish and Roma people."
On 21 February 2019, Sandu and the candidates of the ACUM electoral bloc, both of the national and uninominal constituency, signed a public commitment according to which, after the Parliamentary elections of 24 February 2019, they would not make any coalition with the Party of Socialists, Democratic Party and Shor Party, while if this commitment were violated they would resign as MPs. She violated this self-imposed commitment after agreeing to form a coalition government along with the Party of Socialists in early June 2019 as the only way forward to create a legitimate and democratic government.
As Prime Minister
In the 2019 parliamentary election, Sandu's PAS, together with its ally, PPDA, led by Andrei Năstase, formed the ACUM Electoral Bloc and secured 26 of the 101 seats in the Parliament of Moldova. On 8 June 2019, Sandu was elected Prime Minister of Moldova in a coalition government with PSRM. On the same day, the Constitutional Court of Moldova declared unconstitutional her designation for this position as well as the appointment of the Government of the Republic of Moldova, which sparked the 2019 constitutional crisis. However, on 15 June 2019, the Constitutional Court revised and repealed its previous decisions, declaring the Sandu Cabinet to have been constitutionally created.
The next day, she called for the restoration of public order, discouraging citizens from attending local rallies. In June 2019, she lifted a March 2017 ban by former Prime Minister Filip on official visits by government officials to Russia. In one of her first interviews with foreign media, she announced her intention to request that the United States Treasury add Vlad Plahotniuc to the Magnitsky List. In August, Sandu requested that the State Chancellery prepare a draft decree, which would officially declare 23 August as the European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and Nazism, instead of the regular Liberation Day. The decree was opposed by her coalition partner, the PSRM, with Moldova's president and ex-PSRM leader Igor Dodon announcing that he would celebrate the date in the old style, rejecting Sandu's proposal.
Under Sandu, Moldova began taking steps towards the European Union, as Sandu herself is pro-EU. Sandu was ousted as prime minister on 12 November 2019, following a vote of no confidence. She remained as a caretaker of the office until the formation of a new government. However, on 24 December 2020, Sandu took office as state president, after winning a landslide election against the pro-Russian Igor Dodon, and again on a pro-EU and anti-corruption platform. Under Sandu's leadership, Moldova is once more in a position to resume moving forward towards European integration.
2020 presidential campaign
Sandu announced her candidacy for the 2020 presidential election on 18 July, declaring that a joint pro-European candidate would not be required as there was no risk of there being no pro-European candidates in the second round. Sandu officially launched her campaign on 2 October 2020, giving two speeches in Romanian and Russian, both times promising to fight corruption and poverty, alongside reforming the country's criminal justice system, while accusing President Dodon of deliberately hindering the latter. Considering that no candidate received a majority of votes in the first round of the election, a run-off between Sandu and Dodon was held on 15 November, in which Sandu won with 57.75% of the popular vote.
She 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. In her press conference, she declared that Moldova under her leadership "will secure real balance in the foreign policy, being guided by Moldova's national interests, we will have a pragmatic dialogue with all the countries, including Romania, Ukraine, European nations, Russia, and the United States."
2024 presidential campaign
Launching her re-election campaign, Sandu condemned Russia's war in Ukraine as a threat to regional stability and Moldova's sovereignty. She identified both Russia and corruption as the biggest challenges facing Moldova, emphasizing that addressing these issues is crucial for Moldova's security and its aspirations for closer integration with the European Union. In the presidential debate, Sandu accused her main opponent, Alexandr Stoianoglo of the PSRM, of being a "Trojan horse" candidate for outside interests wanting control of Moldova. She said she would continue her pro-European course, saying, "Joining the European Union is Moldova's Marshall Plan". After winning a plurality of the vote in the first round, Sandu won the second round over Stoianoglo with 55.35% of the vote. Sandu declared in her victory speech; "Moldova, you are victorious! Today, dear Moldovans, you have given a lesson in democracy, worthy of being written in history books. Today, you have saved Moldova."
The 2024 Moldovan European Union membership constitutional referendum was held on the same day as the first round in the presidential election. Sandu actively campaigned for the 'Yes' vote supporting European integration, which ultimately won by a narrow margin. Sandu attributed the result of the first round and the referendum to foreign interference and described it as an "unprecedented assault on democracy", adding that her government had evidence that 150,000 votes had been bought, with an objective of 300,000. The European Union also said that the two exercises had taken place "under unprecedented interference and intimidation by Russia and its proxies".
Presidency (2020–present)
Sandu was sworn in on 24 December 2020 in the Palace of the Republic. During the ceremony, she appealed for national unity, speaking in Russian, Ukrainian, Gagauz, and Bulgarian towards the end of her remarks. Thousands of her supporters greeted her outside the palace, chanting slogans like "Maia Sandu and the people!" and "The people love you!" After the ceremony, she met Dodon at the Presidential Palace for a ceremony in which Dodon officially transferred presidential power to her. That day, she met with acting Prime Minister Ion Chicu. Before taking office, she suspended her PAS membership; recent convention calls for the president to not be a formal member of a party.
Sandu ran again for president in the 2024 Moldovan presidential election, where she won 42% of the vote in the first round. She defeated former prosecutor-general Alexandr Stoianoglo in a runoff on 3 November.
Domestic policy
On 28 December, she met the parliamentary factions for consultations. On 31 December, Sandu named Foreign Minister Aureliu Ciocoi acting prime minister after Chicu refused to stay on in an acting capacity. The ex-president of the country, leader of the Party of Communists, Vladimir Voronin, and the Leader of Our Party, Renato Usatii, proposed their candidacies for the post of prime minister. At a briefing following her visit to Ukraine, Sandu also touched upon the appointment of the prime minister, stating that "Neither Voronin nor Usatii is suitable for the role of prime minister. We need a serious government, created following early elections." On 27 January 2021, she nominated Natalia Gavrilița as a candidate for the position of Prime Minister, saying that she has the "task of creating the government team and preparing a government program focused on economic development and cleaning up the institutions of the state of corruption." The very next day, Sandu asked MPs to reject her proposed Prime Minister in order to speed up the process of dissolution and early elections.
Sandu re-nominated Gavrilița on 11 February. The Constitutional Court of Moldova declared the decree unconstitutional, reasoning that Sandu should have accepted a proposal from 54 MPs (primarily from PSRM) to instead nominate Mariana Durleșteanu, a former Moldovan ambassador to the United Kingdom. Sandu refused the proposal of the Constitutional Court and Parliament, saying, "I have said repeatedly that the only way for Moldova to move forward is to organise new parliamentary elections."
Before the Gavrilița Government could be voted on, some PSRM deputies presented a list signed by PSRM, Pentru Moldova (including the Șor Party), and another 3 unaffiliated MPs for supporting the candidature of Mariana Durleșteanu. Sandu declared afterwards that she would not continue consultations, but would not nominate another candidate for Prime Minister. Two options remained: snap elections or a referendum for Sandu's impeachment. On 16 March, she again met with parties in the Parliament for consultations. The PSRM delegation was led by Igor Dodon, the president of the party, but not a deputy in the Parliament. At the same time, without Dodon's knowledge, Durleșteanu announced that she was withdrawing her candidature. After the consultations, Sandu announced that it was impossible to form a parliamentary majority, and in order to end the political crisis, she nominated Igor Grosu as Prime Minister.
More political figures, such as Pavel Filip and Andrian Candu claimed that Sandu had reached an agreement with Igor Dodon in order to hold early parliamentary elections. Some political analysts stated that the withdrawal of Durleșteanu was planned in order to get closer to snap elections.
Foreign policy
Sandu is a supporter of Moldova's European integration, the country's entry into the European Union, and the resumption of cooperation with the IMF. When she received the president of Romania, she declared that "the Republic will integrate into the European space with the help of Romania". Maia Sandu met EU and Belgian political figures in Brussels in January 2021.
On 19 April 2021 in Strasbourg, France, she signed the Council of Europe Action Plan for the Republic of Moldova 2021–2024, an action plan of the Council of Europe with the aim of reforming Moldova's legislation and state institutions and introducing improvements on the country's democracy, human rights, and rule of law.
After the outbreak of the 2022 Russian invasion in Ukraine, Sandu signed the application for EU membership on 3 March 2022, together with Igor Grosu, the president of the Moldovan parliament, and Natalia Gavrilița, the country's prime minister.
Sandu actively campaigned for the 'Yes' vote supporting European integration in the 2024 Moldovan European Union membership constitutional referendum held on the same day as the first round of the 2024 presidential election on 20 October, which won by a narrow margin. Sandu attributed the result to an "unprecedented assault on our country's freedom and democracy" following allegations of interference by "criminal groups" and pro-Russian interests.
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis became the first foreign leader to visit Sandu in Moldova, arriving on 29 December. As part of the Moldovan–Romanian collaboration during the COVID-19 pandemic, Iohannis promised that Romania would aid Moldova with medicines, medical and sanitary protection equipment and 200,000 vaccine units. When going to Paris, in a stopover in Bucharest, she met with the Prime Minister of Romania, Florin Cîțu.
Furthermore, when asked about how she would vote in case there was a referendum on the unification of Moldova and Romania, Sandu replied that she would personally vote "yes".
In a meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, she confirmed that a visit to Kyiv in January 2021 would become the first foreign trip she will take as president. During her visit on 12 January, she met with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, where they agreed to create a Presidential Council to address issues of bilateral relations. She also met with prime minister Denys Shmyhal and parliament speaker Dmytro Razumkov. She paid tribute to fallen Ukrainians at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the National Museum of the Holodomor-Genocide.
Personal life
Sandu is unmarried and has no children, lives in an apartment in Chișinău, and used to own a Toyota RAV4 as means of transportation. She briefly considered adopting a child. In addition to her native Romanian, she is fluent in English and Russian.
Sandu is a dual Moldovan and Romanian citizen.
Electoral results
Honours and awards
Honors
Moldova:
Order of Work Glory (23 July 2014)
Ukraine:
First Class of the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise (23 August 2021)
First Class of the Order of Princess Olga (24 August 2026)
Lithuania:
First Class of the Order of Vytautas the Great (6 July 2022)
France:
Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour (7 March 2024)
European Union
Honourable Member European Order of Merit (19 May 2026)
Awards
2020 Award of the Group for Social Dialogue (Romania, 27 January 2021)
2026 GLOBSEC price award (Prague, Czechia, 21 May 2026)