In mid-2019, a sequence of events following the 2019 Moldovan parliamentary election – and the subsequent attempts to form and install a new government, culminated in the positions of Prime Minister and Speaker of the Parliament, as well as the powers and duties of the President, being claimed by competing individuals. On 8 June 2019, Maia Sandu was elected prime minister by parliament – forming the Sandu Cabinet, while Zinaida Greceanîi was elected Speaker of the Parliament. However, on 9 June 2019 the Constitutional Court temporarily suspended the President of Moldova – Igor Dodon, from the powers and duties of his office and one of the claimants to the position of prime minister, Pavel Filip, was appointed acting president. Filip immediately issued a decree dissolving the parliament, whereas the new government said this move was illegal. Background Moldova is a parliamentary republic. In December 2016, Igor Dodon, former leader of the Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova, was elected president. He is described as pro-Russian and was backed by Russia. In February 2019, as the result of the 2019 parliamentary elections, the Socialist party won 35 seats in the parliament, followed by the Democratic Party of Moldova chaired by Vladimir Plahotniuc (30 seats), the NOW Platform DA and PAS block by Sandu and Andrei Năstase (26 seats), the Șor Party (7 seats), and independent candidates (3 seats). By constitution, the parliament has "three months" (article 85) to form the government; if it fails to form the government, the president can dissolve the parliament and call new elections. The Constitutional Court interpreted the term as corresponding to 90 days, which is two days less than the sum of March, April and May. Until the new government had been formed, the outgoing Filip Cabinet, formed by the previous Democratic Party-dominated legislature, was to maintain control of the executive. The post-election configuration of the Moldovan parliament gave no outright majority to either party, thus making a coalition of two of the three biggest parties a necessity to gain a majority and elect a Prime Minister. Crisis On Friday June 7, the Constitutional Court decided that new parliamentary elections are to be held if no government was made before a three month (90 consecutive days) deadline starting from its validation of the election results on 9 March. This triggered a formation of a coalition. On Saturday June 8, the NOW Platform DA