Moldova’s oligarch mayors go global
Moldova’s oligarch mayors go global

Summary/Abstract: Orhei, a medium-sized city about an hour north of Chișinău, is an unlikely rival to Monaco. Yet mayor Ilan Șor – one of the country’s oligarchs – promised in 2018 that Orhei’s residents would “live as they do” in the European principality. Farther north, in Bălți, mayor Renato Usatîi – yet another oligarch – claimed to have started a revolution in the city’s contacts with the world. Such bombast is common from the two wealthy businessmen and political leaders, who have carved out independent centres of power in Orhei and Bălți and have remained popular there, frequently digging into their own pockets to entertain residents with a deluge of concerts and festivities. Both run political parties – the Șor Party and Our Party – and both have used charitable public events to enhance their profile. But in the pursuit of their ultimate goal of taking control over central institutions, bread and circuses have been merely one front.

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