Pavel Filip
© REUTERS / Valentyn OgirenkoPavel Filip shows a decree to dissolve parliament and hold snap election.
Moldova's Constitutional Court gave presidential authority to the acting prime minister so he could order the dissolution of parliament. This comes one day after the parliament formed a government, resolving months of deadlock.

The rapid succession of events in Moldova, a former Soviet republic located between Romania and Ukraine, stems from the inconclusive results of a parliamentary election in February, which produced no ruling majority.

The seats were more or less split evenly between three parties: the Russia-leaning Socialists, the EU-leaning Democrats (who are led by one of the wealthiest businessmen in Moldova), and the ACUM, a bloc formed by two new parties running on an anti-oligarch pro-European platform.

Map of Moldova
© Google Maps
The parliament remained hung for months until this week, when the Socialists and ACUM agreed to form a ruling coalition. During an emergency session on Saturday, the two political forces managed to elect a new Socialist speaker and deputies, avoiding the threat of automatic dissolution, which would have happened in later months should the deadlock continue. The allies also appointed the leader of the ACUM as the new prime minister and ordered the resignation of several senior officials who kept their offices from the previous government.

The development was welcomed by foreign observers, but the Democrats, who were in power before the February election, opposed it, calling on their supporters to start street protests. They accused their rivals of trying to usurp power and surrender Moldova to Russia.

The Democrats found an ally in the nation's Constitutional Court, which declared all laws passed by the parliament on Saturday unconstitutional. On Sunday, the court ruled that President Igor Dodon, the former leader of the Socialists, neglected his duties when he failed to dissolve the parliament after June 7 as demanded by justices. The allied parties insist the deadline was actually June 9.

The court suspended Dodon from his office and appointed Pavel Filip, the prime minister in the previous Democrat government, to be interim president to dissolve the parliament, which he promptly did.

The Socialists and ACUM see this as the Democrats trying to cling to power despite losing at the ballot box by pulling strings in the Constitutional Court. Dodon went to the parliament, where he rejected the court's rulings and the order to dissolve the parliament, saying there will not be a snap election.

The constitutional crisis remains peaceful so far, but the situation in Moldova is shaky. Maia Sandu, the newly-appointed prime minister, called on the nation's police to protect the law and prevent any potential escalation of violence.