The Oligarch who Dominated Moldova's Elections

This pre-election article I wrote with Ecaterina Locoman turned out to be pretty accurate so far. As we predicted, oligarch Vlad Plahotniuc was the big winner. His Democratic Party of Moldova won more votes than expected. He is now the king-maker in Moldova’s newly elected parliament. However, instead of trying to ally with the pro-Russia Socialists, he has instead tried to convince the pro-Europe liberals to join him in a coalition, something that is pretty difficult, considering that these parties despise him.

Mitchell Orenstein