Irina Vlah, a pro-Moscow ex-governor of Moldova's autonomous Gagauz region, on July 17 announced her candidacy in Moldova's upcoming presidential election against pro-European incumbent Maia Sandu.
Vlah, 50, made the announcement in a statement in Moldova's capital, Chisinau, during which she criticized what she said were closer ties between Moldova and NATO and increased defense spending, while calling for the country's neutral status to be maintained and beefed up.
Vlah also called on her supporters to vote "No" in a referendum on Moldova's European integration that will take place simultaneously with the presidential election on October 20, when Sandu is seeking a second mandate.
Vlah was governor of Gagauzia from 2015 until 2023, when she was replaced by Evghenia Gutul, a close associate of Ilan Shor, a Russian-backed fugitive oligarch implicated in a $1 billion bank fraud and other illicit schemes who has organized months of anti-Sandu protests in Chisinau.
Gagauzia's 140,000 residents, mainly ethnic Turks who adhere to Orthodox Christianity, have had uneasy relations with the central authorities since Moldova declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
The U.S.-educated Sandu, who handed the pro-Russian Igor Dodon an upset defeat in November 2020, has steered Moldova firmly toward the West and has sought to shake off Moscow's long-standing influence in the former Soviet republic.
Sandu's government has formally condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine and has joined the sanctions regime imposed by the West on Moscow, while hosting thousands of Ukrainian refugees since the start of the war.
Moldova last month opened membership negotiations with the European Union after receiving an invitation in June 2022.
Dodon, the leader of Moldova's Socialist Party, on July 8 announced that he would not run again for president, but will back former Prosecutor-General Alexandr Stoianoglo.
So far, three other politicians have declared as candidates -- Renato Usatii, a controversial businessman and chief of the Our Party politician bloc who is under investigation for corruption; ex-Prime Minister Ion Chicu; and former Foreign Minister Tudor Ulianovschi.
Sandu appears well placed to win the first round of elections, being credited in a recent poll by the U.S.-based International Republican Institute with 37 percent support, while Usatii and Chicu are projected to win some 5 percent. Vlah would win 4 percent, according to the poll.