Factors of Success for Presidential Campaigns in Moldova: Comparative Analysis of 2016 and 2020 Elections

Historically, the society of Moldova is divided into two political camps: some advocate integration with the EU (mainly, this is a young population that does not remember the times of the USSR), others yearn for the Soviet past and see their future together with Russia. In 2016, in the second round, the pro-Russian candidate Igor Dodon became the President of the Republic of Moldova, bypassing the leader of the right-wing opposition Maia Sandu by several percent. However, already in 2020, the people of the republic supported Maia Sanda in the second round. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify the success factors of the presidential campaigns in the 2016 and 2020 elections in Moldova. The goal is achieved by comparing the presidential campaigns of Igor Dodon and Maia Sandu in 2016 and 2020; the results of the presidential elections in Moldova in 2016 and 2020; the political field on the eve of the 2016 and 2020 elections. The work is divided into three chapters. The first chapter is descriptive and tells about the prehistory of the presidential elections in Moldova. The second and third chapters of this study are devoted to the presidential elections in 2016 and 2020, respectively.