Igor Dodon

Igor Dodon (born 18 February 1975) is a Moldovan politician who previously served as the President of Moldova from 23 December 2016 to 24 December 2020.

He currently serves as the leader of the Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova.

Igor Dodon was born on 18 February 1975 in Sadova village in the Călărași District of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic (now Moldova) to Nicolae (died 2012 ) and Galina Dodon, a Romanian language teacher in his native village.

This is where he would meet his wife Galina in May 1995.

Thus, he holds the positions of assistant lecturer at the Academy of Economic Studies of Moldova (Banks and Stock Exchanges Department), senior lecturer at the Free International University of Moldova (Banks and Stock Exchanges Department), the International Institute of Management (Finance Department) and the State University of Moldova.

Igor Dodon is also a member Examination Committees at the university graduation exams within ULIM and IIM.

He graduated from the Faculty of Economics at the State Agrarian University of Moldova in 1997, then the Faculty of Management at the Academy of Economic Studies of Moldova in 1998.

He later graduated from the Faculty of Law in economics at the International Management Institute.

He obtained the scientific title of Doctor in Economic Sciences at the Academy of Economic Studies of Moldova, the Department of Banks and Stock Exchanges.

From 1997 to 2005, Dodon also carried out pedagogical activities.

After graduating from educational institutions, since July 1997 Igor Dodon has been employed at the Moldovan Stock Exchange.

Thus, between 1997 and 2001 he worked as a senior specialist of the Clearing Department, of the Listing Department, administrator of the Electronic Trading Systems and then, Director of the Marketing, Listing Department within the Moldovan Stock Exchange.

Between November 2001 and May 2005, he served as chairman and member of the Board of Directors of the National Depository of Securities of Moldova SA.

From September 2002 to May 2005 he was the chairman of the Universal Commodity Exchange of Moldova.

Between February 2003 – May 2005, Igor Dodon is a member of the expert committee to the National Securities Commission of Moldova.

Also, between March 2004 – May 2005, he is also a member of the Arbitration Commission of the Stock Exchange.

He was an editor of the Newsletter "Stock Exchange of Moldova" and of the Stock Market Bulletin of the Universal Commodities Exchange "Stock Exchange – Stock market quotations".

Dodon was appointed to the post of Associate Minister of Trade and Economics in May 2005, during the second Tarlev Cabinet.

In 2005, the PCRM also had won the elections having an open pro-European platform, with a pro-European slogan "I Vote", where the European stars surrendered the hammer and sickle on the red Communist wallpaper.

He served as Minister of Economy and Trade in the governments of Vasile Tarlev and Zinaida Greceanîi from September 2006 to September 2009 and was a member of the Parliament of Moldova from 2009 to 2016.

He assumed the position of Minister of Trade and Economics in September 2006.

In 2007, a trend for all political forces was to adopt a pro-European platform for the elections in 2009.

In this regard, Igor Dodon, during his work trips to Brussels, had assured the high rank European officials on how he and an entire Communist party were pro-European.

Dodon also held the post of Associate Prime Minister under Greceanîi from 2008 until 2009.

He held the position until September 2009, when the government of Zinaida Greceanîi ended.

In September 2009, after 8 years of governing, the Communist Party came into opposition.

Igor Dodon had lost his ministerial position.

Igor Dodon, in only a year, since 2009 by 2010, became a convinced pro Moldovan – no Europe, neither Russia.

"Moldova can become a contact point for different countries; an area where first of all will interfere the economic interests of our neighbors and partners. We are in a very advantageous position in terms of the common interest of CIS and EU and this objective shall become an issue of the external policy."

He became an MP in the Parliament, which was reelected in November 2010.

He had the 6th position in the PCRM list of the candidates.

The Communists has changed the European vector, and in 2010 they drifted to east, and self-declared as pro-Russians.

In June 2011, Dodon lost to Dorin Chirtoacă at the elections for mayor of Chișinău.

He took 49.4% of the votes.

The local elections have been an occasion for the Communist Party to return to power, at the least at the local authority level.

He lost his bid for re-election in 2020 to Maia Sandu, whom he had defeated four years earlier in the 2016 Moldovan presidential election.

On 24 May 2022, Dodon was arrested by the Moldovan authorities on charges of passive corruption, illegal financing of a political party by a criminal organization, illicit enrichment, and high treason against Moldova through receiving funds from fugitive Moldovan politician Vladimir Plahotniuc in order to intercede on Plahotniuc's behalf regarding criminal cases filed in Russia.

He was placed under house arrest on 26 May in order to allow prosecutors to investigate the allegations further.

The United States Department of the Treasury has also accused Dodon of corruption and conspiring with Russia through his political aides to interfere with the Moldovan elections and rig the media in his favour.

He was released from house arrest on 18 November 2022 pending a court trial on all charges.