Andrei Năstase

Andrei Năstase (born 6 August 1975) is a Moldovan politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Internal Affairs from 8 June 2019 to 12 November 2019. He was also a member of Parliament of Moldova in 2019. Năstase was the leader of the Dignity and Truth Platform (Platforma DA) from 2015 to 2021.

In 2018, Năstase was selected as joint candidate of pro-European Platforma DA and PAS parties. He won the runoff of the Chișinău mayoral elections with 52.57% of the votes, outrunning pro-Russian PSRM candidate, Ion Ceban. Many marked this election as a win for the pro-european and pro-democracy parties, and a big step in combating corruption and oligarchy in the country. However, the elections were later declared invalid due to a breach of "electoral silence," a rule prohibiting campaigning on the day prior to the election. On the day before the election, both candidates utilized social media to encourage voter participation. Năstase's encouragement to "Go and vote" during a Facebook live session, and Ion Ceban's similar messages were perceived as acceptable in Moldovan society since Independence, as most candidates since 1992 consistently encouraged people to vote on the day prior, and the day of the election. The Moldovan courts, to the surprise of many, denounced these messages as "violation of the electoral code". The annulment of the election results sparked extensive criticism from both the European Union and the United States, and lead to significant public demonstrations in the nation's capital. Critics primarily attribute the election's invalidation to oligarch Vlad Plahotniuc, the leader of the Democratic Party. In the wake of these events, the European Union has suspended a financial aid package worth 100 million euros, underscoring the international ramifications of the election's outcome.

In the 2019 parliamentary election, the ACUM Electoral Bloc, a coalition comprising Năstase's Platforma DA and the Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) led by Maia Sandu, secured 26 out of 101 parliamentary seats in Moldova. Amidst the 2019 constitutional crisis, Andrei Năstase was named Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Internal Affairs in the Sandu cabinet. On November 12, 2019, the Sandu cabinet was ousted following a no-confidence vote triggered by the government's decision to bypass its own rules in the appointment process for the General Prosecutor. Năstase openly criticized Sandu for unilaterally overruling its own contest rules without the consultation of coalition partners, a move that was later adjudged unconstitutional and illegal.