
Igor Nikolaevich Dodon (18 February 1975-) was President of Moldova from 23 December 2016 to 24 December 2020, succeeding Nicolae Timofti and preceding Maia Sandu.
Biography[]
Igor Nikolaevich Dodon was born in Sadova, Moldavian SSR, Soviet Union in 1975, and he worked as a teacher from 1997 to 2005 before working for the Moldovan Stock Exchange. Dodon served as Associate Minister of Trade and Economics from 2005 to 2006, Minister of Economy and Trade from 2006 to 2009, and in Parliament from 2009 to 2016, originally supporting integration with the European Union as a member of the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova. However, in 2009, he came to support Moldova's status as a contact point for the West and East, pursuing the common interests of the EU and the CIS rather than affiliating with either. In June 2011, Dodon narrowly lost the Chisinau mayoral election, and, in November, he left the PCRM for the PSRM amid a governmental crisis; he quickly became Chairman of the PSRM. Dodon was elected President of Moldova in 2016, and he removed the European flag from the presidential administration building and swore to look out solely for Moldovan interests. Dodon acted to make the Russian language mandatory in Moldovan schools, supported the transformation of Moldova from a parliamentary republic to a presidential republic, opposed unification with Romania, and supported the commemoration of the Soviet victory over Nazism during World War II. He decided to run for re-election in 2019, having been ranked the most trusted politician in Moldova, but he was defeated for re-election by the pro-European candidate Maia Sandu after being accused of corruption and Russophilia. Following the 2020 Belarusian presidential election, Dodon congratulated the authoritarian ruler Alexander Lukashenko on his alleged victory.