Constitutional Court of Moldova in the context of "Constitutional court"

Romanian (obsolete spelling: Roumanian; endonym: limba română [ˈlimba roˈmɨnə] , or românește [romɨˈneʃte], lit. 'in Romanian') is the official and main language of Romania and Moldova. Romanian is part of the Eastern Romance sub-branch of Romance languages, a linguistic group that evolved from several dialects of Vulgar Latin which separated from the Western Romance languages in the course of the period from the 5th to the 8th centuries. To distinguish it within the Eastern Romance languages, in comparative linguistics it is called Daco-Romanian as opposed to its closest relatives, Aromanian, Megleno-Romanian, and Istro-Romanian. It is also spoken as a minority language by stable communities in the countries surrounding Romania (Bulgaria, Hungary, Serbia and Ukraine), and by the large Romanian diaspora. In total, it is spoken by 25 million people as a first language.

Romanian was also known as Moldovan in Moldova, although the Constitutional Court of Moldova ruled in 2013 that "the official language of Moldova is Romanian". On 16 March 2023, the Moldovan Parliament approved a law on referring to the national language as Romanian in all legislative texts and the constitution. On 22 March, the president of Moldova, Maia Sandu, promulgated the law.

Moldovan or Moldavian (Latin alphabet: limba moldovenească, Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet: лимба молдовеняскэ) is one of the two local names for the Romanian language in Moldova. Moldovan was declared the official language of Moldova in Article 13 of the constitution adopted in 1994, while the 1991 Declaration of Independence of Moldova used the name Romanian. In 2003, the Moldovan parliament adopted a law defining Moldovan and Romanian as glottonyms for the same language. In 2013, the Constitutional Court of Moldova interpreted that Article 13 of the constitution is superseded by the Declaration of Independence, thus giving official status to the name Romanian. On 16 March 2023, the Moldovan Parliament approved a law on referring to the national language as Romanian in all legislative texts and the constitution. On 22 March, the president of Moldova, Maia Sandu, promulgated the law.

The breakaway region of Transnistria continues to recognize "Moldavian" as one of its official languages, alongside Russian and Ukrainian. Ukraine also recognized "Moldovan" as a minority language in the country until 3 December 2025, when the Verkhovna Rada, the Ukrainian parliament, approved a bill excluding Moldovan from its list of languages protected in accordance with the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.

The Parliament of the Republic of Moldova (Romanian: Parlamentul Republicii Moldova) is the unicameral legislature and supreme representative body of the Republic of Moldova. It is the only state legislative authority and is composed of 101 MPs elected by universal vote, equal directly, secret and freely expressed on lists, for a term of four years. The president of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova is elected by the Parliament, with a minimum of 52 votes.

The Constitutional Court of Moldova, on a proposal of the Central Electoral Commission, decides to validate or invalidate the mandate of the Member of Parliament. The mandate is invalid in the case of violation of electoral legislation. The Parliament is meeting at the convening of the Speaker of the Parliament within 30 days of the elections. The Parliament's mandate is prolonged until the legal meeting of the new composition. During this period the Constitution cannot be amended and organic laws cannot be adopted, amended or abrogated.