Moldova Unitary state

History and trends

Moldova is a Parliamentary Republic. Its Constitution was adopted on 28 July 1994, and substantially revised in July 2000 and March 2016.

The Republic of Moldova (formerly Bessarabia) is a small country with relatively fluid borders and close ties to Romania. By virtue of its strategically important position, it has been occupied by various great empires during the course of its history.

The question of administrative divisions has never been addressed from the point of view of the rule of law (equal rights for all), or from a practical and convenience standpoint (geographical divisions).

Instead the system has been exploited for political ends by opposing factions – the Roman-speaking indigenous majority and the Russian- and Ukrainian-speaking minorities. Romanian-speaking community leaders sought to impose the Romanian administrative tradition (itself inspired by the French model) one Moldova, by establishing highly centralised județe (departments) governed by a prefect.

Meanwhile the Russian- and Ukrainian-speaking community leaders, inspired by the Soviet model, instead leaned towards raions (districts) led by committees, with differences between urban and rural raions, as well as ethnically based local autonomous republics.

Because the opposing camps have been unable to reach a satisfactory compromise, different laws have been introduced in different regions, with federal-style arrangements for the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (between the River Dniester and Ukraine), and the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia – both treated as “autonomous territorial units”.

State authority does not apply in these two territories, which alone account for 85% of Moldova’s economy, despite making up just 18% of its territory.

These subdivisions, of varying statuses, are administrative entities that together make up the Republic of Moldova – a de jure (legally recognised by the international community and parliament) or de facto (in practice) state. The subdivisions have been established in waves, and are arranged into several tiers.

De jure, the Republic of Moldova is divided into 6 regions (including 2 autonomous regions), 32 districts (raioane) and 5 municipalities.

However, since the 1992 Transnistria War, this de jure structure has only partially aligned with the de facto situation. Moreover, since the communist reforms of 1998-2001, even the de jure statuses of these districts, municipalities and regions have differed.

Some are autonomous, while others were not. Some fulfil the functions of more than one tier (the capital is both a municipality and a district). And some have different official languages (Romanian-speaking raioane and ocoluri, Russian-speaking rayoniï, and dolay in Gagauzia).

De facto, the Republic of Moldova only controls 32.5 districts, plus Gagauzia, because:

• The self-proclaimed, unrecognised, separatist Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, commonly known as “Transnistria” (capital: Tiraspol, not Dubăsari) controls 92% of the autonomous region to the east of the River Dniester, plus the municipality of Bender to the west of the river (4,163 km² in total).
• For this reason the de facto capital of the southern region is Cimișlia rather than Bender.

As such, the Moldovan government controls 32.5 districts (raioane), along with two municipalities (Bălţi and Chișinău).

The self-proclaimed autonomous republic controls the 4.5 (unofficial) sub-districts in Transnistria to the east of the River Dniester, plus two Transnistrian municipalities to the east of the river – Bender and Tiraspol, the de facto capital of the republic.

Gagauzia is divided into 3 dolay: Comrat (municipality), Ceadîr-Lunga and Vulcănești. The region is self-governing, although it recognises the authority of the Moldovan government, abides by its laws and uses its currency.

While the Moldovan government is seeking closer ties with the European Union and Romania, representatives of Transnistria and Gagauzia have said they favour joining the Russian Federation, following the example of Crimea and Novorossiya in Ukraine. Moldova also has 39 cities with more than 10,000 inhabitants.