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Maia Sandu (; born 24 May 1972) is a Moldovan politician who has served as the sixth president of Moldova since 2020. 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 "Western world". 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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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 ().
In 2016, Sandu was the pro-European candidate in the Moldovan presidential election. She was selected as the joint candidate of the pro-Europeanism 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 Misogyny. 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.
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 Sandu Cabinet along with the Party of Socialists in early June 2019 as the only way forward to create a legitimate and democratic government.
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.
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."
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".
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.
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.
On 25 March, Parliament did not vote for Grosu, and the majority of the deputies left the building. Sandu had consultations with all parliamentary forces on 26 and 29 March. After the Constitutional Court declared the state of emergency unconstitutional, she dissolved the Parliament and called for an early Snap election on 11 July.
The 2021 Moldovan parliamentary elections ended in a victory for Sandu's Party of Action and Solidarity, winning 52.8% of the overall vote. The Constitutional Court of Moldova recognised the election results on 23 July.
The 2025 Moldovan parliamentary elections again returned the PAS to a majority government after winning 50.2% of the vote.
Sandu received her vaccination on 7 May with the Oxford–AstraZeneca vaccine after Romania stated its intention to donate thousands of vaccines to Moldova. Sandu had previously stated she would only receive vaccination when it was certain Moldova would have enough vaccines to vaccinate its entire population.
According to the World Health Organization, between 3 January 2020 and 28 June 2023, there have been 620,717 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 12,124 deaths. As of 11 June 2023, a total of 2,288,948 vaccine doses have been administered. Moldova is among the first countries in the WHO European Region to conduct a COVID-19 intra-action review (IAR) upon the request of Moldova's Ministry of Health, Labour and Social Protection.
Reporters Without Borders improved Moldova's Press Freedom Index ranking from 89th in 2020 to 28th in 2023, while cautioning that "Moldova's media are diverse but extremely polarised, like the country itself, which is marked by political instability and excessive influence by oligarchs." In 2022 the European Union's anti-money laundering body Moneyval upgraded Moldova from 'partially compliant' to 'largely compliant' due to significant improvements in the country's legal measures to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing.
On 8 June 2021, Sandu signed off on the creation of an extra-governmental corruption monitoring body after declaring the state's own institutions "too slow". The six-member panel of the 'Anticorruption Independent Consultative Committee' will be co-chaired by United States diplomat James Wasserstrom, includes economists, jurists and journalists and is partially funded by the European Union and United States.
On 5 October 2021, the Moldovan government suspended the Prosecutor General Alexandru Stoianoglo in relation to charges of corruption, passive corruption, illicit enrichment, and abuse of office in favour of criminal groups. The European Court of Human Rights later ruled that Stoianoglo's right to a fair trial had been violated. A Moldovan court cleared him of one of the accusations, with four other cases awaiting trial .
On 2 May 2022, former Moldovan Prime Minister Iurie Leancă was charged with abuse of power over a concession that gave control of the country's main airport to a businessman now in exile. The 2013 concession handed control of Chişinău International Airport for a 49-year term to a company associated with politician and businessman Ilan Shor, who fled Moldova in 2019 after the election of pro-Western Sandu. An appeals court ruled in November 2021 that control of the airport should return to the state. Veronica Dragalin, head of Moldova's anti-corruption prosecution office, said a former economy minister and six other former officials also faced similar charges in a criminal case which she said had been referred to court.
On 24 May 2022, former president Igor Dodon was arrested by the Moldovan authorities on charges of corruption for the receipt of bribes, illegal financing of his political party, and high treason against Moldova through links to fugitive Moldovan politician Vlad Plahotniuc. He was placed under house arrest on 26 May in order to allow prosecutors to investigate the allegations further. He was released from house arrest on 18 November 2022 pending a court trial on all charges.
On 21 March 2023, Sandu announced the creation of a new Anti-Corruption Court which will be set up to try major corruption cases, as well as cases of crime within Moldova's judicial system, as part of a broader move to tackle endemic corruption in the country. As of 15 June, Sandu has continued to hold consultations and discussions with representatives on the text of the court's concept paper. Sandu has also expressed her support for the establishment of an international anti-corruption court.
Analysts argue that since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Moldova has been "flooded" with Russian propaganda and disinformation. The United States has accused Russia of "deliberately stirring unrest" within Moldova, stating that intelligence showed "that actors, some connected with Russian intelligence, are seeking to stage and use protests in Moldova as a basis to foment an insurrection against Moldova's new pro-Western government." White House National Security Minister John Kirby stated that "As Moldova continues to integrate with Europe, we believe Russia is pursuing options to weaken the Moldovan government probably with the eventual goal of seeing a more Russian- friendly administration in the capital".
In 2023, Sandu announced the creation of an anti-propaganda centre to counter this disinformation and to improve the country's hybrid threat response capabilities.
On 19 June 2023, the pro-Russian Șor Party was banned by the Constitutional Court of Moldova after months of anti-government protests, which the Moldovan government said was an attempt to destabilise it. The court declared the party unconstitutional, with court chairman Nicolae Roșca citing "an article in the constitution stating that parties must through their activities uphold political pluralism, the rule of law and the territorial integrity of Moldova." The party was led by Ilan Shor, a fugitive businessman who fled to Israel in 2019 after being convicted of fraud and money-laundering and sentenced to 15 years in prison in absentia. Sandu welcomed the court's decision.
On 25 November 2022, Maia Sandu addressed the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly on the challenge of climate change. She announced that with assistance from United Nations Development Programme, they would be developing and setting out the commencement of a National Climate Change Adaptation Programme, with a focus on the specific risks and vulnerabilities induced by climate change, and the opportunities to respond to them. She highlighted that "For the Republic of Moldova, climate change means severe droughts every few years, floods, ruined crops and livelihoods of people."
The UNDP, Green Climate Fund, and Embassy of Sweden in Chișinău are assisting in developing a transition plan towards low-emission, green and climate-resilient development. She is quoted as saying, "climate change does not ask whether we are ready for it, whether we have the resources to respond to it, or whether it has come at the right time. Adapting to these changes will be hard. Building resilience will be difficult. Especially for us, because we have fewer resources, we are less prepared, and we have weaker institutions. But we have no choice, we must adapt. To resist. For our future and that of our children, here in Moldova."
According to the UNDP, "A special focus is placed on exploring the mitigation potential through promotion of renewable energy solutions, which currently is standing at 25,06% in the total energy mix, energy efficiency measures and resource efficiency production and consumption. At the same time, support to the reform and modernization of environmental management systems conducive to green development and EU standards are being provided."
In September 2021, during an interview at a local television station, Sandu was asked to describe the events that took place in 1992 and led to the Transnistria War, to which she replied:
She 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. Sandu also stated that Moldova is looking exclusively for a peaceful and diplomatic solution in the conflict.
Asked about her position on opinions which suggest that Moldova should recognise the independence of Transnistria due to the conflict's role in delaying Moldova's EU integration, Sandu replied that she totally disagrees with such opinions.
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.
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".
On 24 February 2022, Moldova announced it was closing its airspace because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Shortly after President Sandu condemned the act of war by Russia against Ukraine, saying, "a blatant breach of international law and of Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity." She added that Moldova was ready to accept tens of thousands of people fleeing Ukraine after the Russian attack and vowed to keep the borders open to help, saying, "we will help people who need our help and support." As of 6 March over 100,000 Ukrainian citizens had crossed the border into Moldova.
In February 2023, Sandu stated that Moscow had sought to overthrow her country's government, echoing accusations made by Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Sandu alleged details of Russia's plan 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. The pro-Russian Șor Party was dissolved and banned by Moldova's Constitutional Court in June 2023.
In September 2025, an investigation by the BBC revealed a secret Russian-backed network trying to disrupt the 2025 Moldovan parliamentary elections. According to the BBC, sanctioned Russian groups recruited operatives on Telegram, then trained them to spread fake news. They posted pro Russian content, attacked the pro EU ruling party, and ran fake polls to question the results. The operation, linked to fugitive oligarch Ilan Shor and the banned NGO Evrazia, reached millions on TikTok and Facebook. Recruits used ChatGPT to create false content after filming opposition supporters. The investigation claims the funding comes from Moscow and is part of wider Kremlin efforts to destabillise Moldova.
Sandu is a dual Moldovan and Romanian citizen.
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