Dodon, Igor Nikolaevich

Igor Dodon was born on February 18, 1975 in the village of Sadov, Kalarash district of the Moldavian SSR.

Has three higher educations. He graduated from the Faculty of Economics of the State Agrarian University, the Faculty of Management of the Moldavian Academy of Economic Knowledge, the Faculty of Economic Law of the International Institute of Management. Doctor of Economic Sciences. Since September 24, 2011 - President of the Chess Federation of Moldova.

In the Government of Moldova

From May 2005 to September 2006, he served as Deputy Minister of Economy and Trade.

By decree of the President of Moldova Vladimir Voronin No. 764 - IV of September 18, 2006, he was appointed Minister of Economy and Trade.

March 31, 2008 by decree of the President of Moldova No. 1592 - IV appointed to the post of First Deputy Prime Minister , Minister of Economy and Trade.

In the Parliament of Moldova

In 2009, he was elected as a deputy from the Communist Party of Moldova (PCRM), both after the April 5 elections and after the early elections on July 29. In the 2010 parliamentary elections , Igor Dodon again became a member of parliament on the PCRM list and a member of the parliamentary commission on economics, budget and finance.

In June 2011, he was nominated as a candidate from the Party of Communists in the election of the general mayor of Chisinau , as a result of which he got 48.07% of votes in the 1st round, 49.40% of votes in the 2nd round ^[10] , losing to Dorin Chirtoaca .

On November 4, 2011, together with MPs Zinaida Grechana and Veronika Abramchuk left the faction of the Party of Communists ^[11] , and on November 23, 2011 joined the Party of Socialists of Moldova (PSRM).

On December 18, 2011, at the 10th congress of the Party of Socialists of Moldova, he was elected chairman of the party ^{[12] [13]} and stayed with him until he won the 2016 presidential election.

According to the results of the November 30, 2014 parliamentary elections , the Socialist Party, led by Igor Dodon, gains 20.51% of the vote and forms the largest fraction in the parliament of the 20th convocation. Not supporting the program of government of the pro-European parties, the Socialist Party joined the opposition.

During mass anti-government demonstrations in Chisinau in January 2016, Igor Dodon, together with Andrei Nestase and Renato Usati, coordinated the protest movement and acted as one of the opposition leaders in negotiations with representatives of the ruling majority.

President of Moldova

In the fall of 2016, the Socialists nominated as a candidate for the presidential election on October 30 ^[14] . Igor Dodon is in favor of maintaining good neighborly relations with the EU and the resumption of strategic partnership with Russia ^[15] .

He entered the second round of elections, gaining 47.98% of the vote. November 13, 2016 won the second round of presidential elections. Dodon became the third popularly elected president of Moldova (after Mircea Snegur and Peter Lucinschi), gaining 52.27% of the vote. The inauguration took place on December 23, 2016 at the Republican Palace in Chisinau ^{[16] [17]} . At the time of election, he is the youngest leader of the republic during its existence. On November 18, 2016, he left the party, losing the chairmanship to Zinaida Grechana .

On December 23, 2016, the inauguration of the president was held at the National Palace ^[18] . On December 26, 2016, the flag of the European Union hanging near the Moldavian flag was removed from the building of the Presidential Administration of Moldova, and the official version of the official website of the President of Moldova in Romanian was changed to Moldavian ^[19] , according to Article 13, paragraph 1 of the Constitution of the Republic of Moldova ^[20] .

He is a supporter of the federalization of Moldova and the abolition of the association agreement with the European Union ^{[21] [22]} . Supporter of the non-aligned status of Moldova and its development as a neutral state ^[23] .

After being elected president, in an interview with Deutsche Welle , Igor Dodon stated ^{[24] [25]} :

On January 4, 2017, in the city of Bender, Igor Dodon met with the President of the Transdniestrian Moldavian Republic, Vadim Krasnoselsky . This meeting was the first meeting of the leaders of Moldova and Transnistria in 8 years ^[26] .

On January 16-18, 2017, Igor Dodon made his first official international visit to Moscow, at the invitation of the President of Russia . This visit was the first visit of the Head of Moldova to Russia over the past 9 years ^[27] . During a meeting with Putin, Dodon said that Moldova’s association agreement with the EU would be annulled in the near future. In addition, the President of Moldova asked Russia to grant Moldova observer status in the EAEU . Dodon also said that the integration of Moldova into NATO will be stopped. According to President Dodon, Moldova will now be a neutral country.

On March 17-19, 2017, he visited Russia for the second time. The visit was neither official nor state, however, at a meeting with Vladimir Putin, issues of the Transnistrian settlement and amnesty for labor migrants from Moldova were discussed ^[28] .

On March 28, 2017, Dodon signed a decree appointing a referendum on September 24 of the same year, to which he brought up four questions ^[29] :

• The repeal of the law on the procedure for the return of the stolen billion euros from the banking system of Moldova;
• Giving the President of Moldova additional powers to dissolve the parliament and set the date for early parliamentary elections;
• Reduction in the number of deputies of the Parliament of Moldova from 101 to 71;
• About teaching at the educational institutions of the country the subject “History of Moldova” instead of “History of Romanians”.

However, in July 2017, the Constitutional Court of Moldova banned the holding of a referendum on expanding the powers of Dodon ^[29] . According to the Constitutional Court of Moldova, “the head of state cannot change the Constitution” ^[29] .

On April 3, 2017, Dodon signed a memorandum of cooperation between Moldova and the EAEU . He hopes that in May-June, after the signing of the memorandum, Moldova can become a full-fledged observer in the EAEU ^[30] . However, already on April 14 at the summit of the Eurasian Economic Union, it was decided to grant Moldova observer status in the organization ^[31] . May 9, 2017 Igor Dodon attended the parade in honor of Victory Day 2017 and visited the Eternal Flame . He explained his decision to go this way: “I received an invitation from Russian President Vladimir Putin to attend the festivities on Red Square. For almost 15 years, the presidents of Moldova did not come to Moscow that day, so I decided to go. ” ^[32]

As President of Moldova, Dodon was faced with the fact that his decrees and orders were not always executed by subordinates, as well as the fact that subordinates act sometimes in spite of his prohibitions. Moreover, the orders are not executed even by military personnel, although Dodon is formally the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Moldova . In September 2017, Moldovan military personnel arrived at the “Quick Trident-2017” exercises in the Lviv region of Ukraine, despite the fact that Dodon directly forbade them ^[33] . Moreover, formally, for the direction of the military, the consent of Dodon was required ^[34] .

On October 17, 2017, the Constitutional Court of Moldova temporarily suspended Dodon from fulfilling his presidency due to his refusal to appoint the Minister of Defense Eugene Sturza , proposed by the parliament . The successor of Dodon for the period necessary for the approval of the Minister of Defense on October 24, 2017 was the Chairman of the Parliament of Moldova Andrian Candu ^[5] .

On January 2, 2018, Dodon's powers were again temporarily suspended by a decision of the Constitutional Court of Moldova due to the fact that Dodon twice rejected the candidacies of members of the government proposed by the Prime Minister ^[35] . The successor again became the chairman of the Parliament of Moldova Andrian Candu ^[6] .

On January 5, 2018, Dodon's powers were again temporarily suspended due to the fact that he twice refused to sign the Law on the Suppression of Foreign Propaganda, adopted by the parliament at the end of 2017 ^{[3] [4]} .

On September 9, 2018, on the Chisinau-Calaras highway, two cars from the Dodon motorcade got into an accident. Dodon was hospitalized, although there were no serious bodily injuries ^{[36] [37]} .

On September 24, 2018, Dodon's powers were again temporarily suspended by the decision of the Constitutional Court of Moldova due to the fact that he twice rejected the candidacies of members of the government proposed by the Prime Minister ^{[7] [8]} . The acting president was again the chairman of the Moldovan parliament, Andrian Candu .

On December 10, 2018, Dodon was suspended for the fifth time after refusing to approve 4 laws ^[9] .

On June 9, 2019, he was once again suspended from serving as president by the Constitutional Court ^[38] . Despite this, the decision of the Constitutional Court was ignored by both President Igor Dodon and the formed parliamentary majority, arguing that he lacked confidence in the Constitutional Court because of his allegiance to the chairman of the Democratic Party of Moldova, Vladimir Plahotniuc . A political crisis arose . On June 15, 2019, the Constitutional Court reviewed its decisions taken from June 7 to 9, 2019, and annulled them, including the decision to remove President Igor Dodon from his duties ^[39] .

Wife - Galina Dodon, since 2012 she worked as the financial director of Exclusive Media (owned by socialist MP Corneliu Furculita), which publishes the local version of the newspaper Argumenty i Fakty ^[40] . The family has three children: sons Bogdan, Vlad and Nikolai ^{[41] [42]} .

• Order of Labor Glory

Foreign

• Cavalier of the Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem
• Order of St. Sergius of Radonezh II degree

• Presidency of Igor Dodon
• Dodon signed a commitment not to cooperate with Plahotniuc

• The official website of the President of Moldova
• Personal site of Igor Dodon