linguistic:paraphrasing, structural:expansion
Presidency of Maia Sandu since 2020

In the November 2020 presidential election, the pro-European opposition candidate Maia Sandu was elected as the new president of the republic, defeating incumbent pro-Russian president Igor Dodon and thus becoming the first female elected president of Moldova.

In December 2020, Prime Minister Ion Chicu, who had led a pro-Russian government since November 2019, resigned a day before Sandu was sworn in. The parliament, dominated by pro-Russian Socialists, did not accept any Prime Minister candidate proposed by the new president.

On 28 April 2021, Sandu dissolved the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova after the Constitutional Court ended Moldova's state of emergency which had been brought about by the coronavirus pandemic. Parliamentary elections took place on 11 July 2021. The snap parliamentary elections resulted in a landslide win for the pro-European Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS).

On 6 August 2021, the Natalia Gavrilița -led cabinet was sworn in to office with 61 votes, all from the Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS). Gavrilița resigned on 10 February 2023 and was replaced by Dorin Recean as Prime Minister of Moldova.

Since Maia Sandu was elected President of Moldova, the country has pursued the goal of full membership of the European Union by 2030 as well as deeper co-operation with NATO. This resulted in Moldova signing the membership application to join the EU on 3 March 2022 and on 23 June 2022, Moldova was officially granted candidate status by EU leaders.

Fighting corruption has been a major government initiative, one also essential to EU membership. 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. This was followed by the Moldovan government suspending the Prosecutor General Alexandru Stoianoglo in relation to charges of corruption, former Moldovan Prime Minister Iurie Leanca was charged with abuse of power, the former President Igor Dodon was arrested by the Moldovan authorities on charges of corruption for the receipt of bribes.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine caused significant economic turmoil in Moldova throughout 2022, in particular due to its reliance at that time on Russian oil and gas, with annual inflation surging to 22% and growth falling from a post-COVID surge of 14% to 0.3%. In response to these shockwaves, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) put a total of €2bn (£1.74bn) into the Moldovan economy and helped it secure gas supplies, a fivefold increase over 2021. As of 18 June 2023, Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Recean confirmed that the country is 100% independent of Russian oil and natural gas. He stated that "Moldova no longer consumes Russian gas, it is integrated in the European energy network both technically and commercially."

On 19 June 2023 the pro-Russian Șor Party was banned by the Constitutional Court of Moldova after months of pro-Russian protests seeking to destabilise the Moldovan government. 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. President Sandu welcomed the court's decision. On 26 June, Ilan Shor announced that he would create a new political party in order to contest the upcoming general election. On 31 July, the Moldovan parliament voted in favour of banning the leaders of the dissolved pro-Russian Șor Party – including Ilan Shor – from standing in elections for a period of five years. Leader and founder of the party, Ilan Șor, currently a fugitive of the state, has claimed he will contest the ban. A clone party, called "ȘANSĂ" or Chance party, led by journalist Alexei Lungu was established by Ilan Shor, however it was deregistered two days before the local elections amid claims of using illegal funds from Russia.