EIU Democracy Index Performance Report 2025 Documents Moldova's 2025 performance on the five dimensions of the Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index, which measures the state of democracy in 167 countries and territories on a 0–10 scale. Moldova was reclassified from Flawed Democracy to Hybrid Regime in this edition, prompting significant public debate about methodology and context. This report renders EIU Democracy Index 2025 data in ISO 17469 StratML Part 2 format to enable machine-readable comparison, trend analysis, and cross-country benchmarking. The reclassification of Moldova to Hybrid Regime has been publicly questioned by civil society actors, including OGP Envoy Veronica Cretu, who noted that international observers broadly validated Moldova's 2024 electoral processes despite documented foreign interference orchestrated by the Russia-linked Ilan Shor network. This report reflects measured outcomes; a companion Performance Plan document can express normative targets. Prepared with AI assistance (Claude, Anthropic). Republic of Moldova MDA uuid-org-mda-eiu-2025 Sovereign state in Eastern Europe; EU candidate country pursuing democratic consolidation and European integration under sustained external pressure from Russia-linked interference networks. Moldovan Citizens The population whose democratic rights, civil liberties, and civic participation the index measures. Primary Beneficiary Beneficiary Economist Intelligence Unit Research and analysis division of The Economist Group; producer of the Democracy Index measuring 167 countries on five dimensions. Index Producer Performer Government of Moldova National government responsible for democratic governance, rule of law, and institutional performance. Governance Performer Performer OSCE / ODIHR Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe election observation body; validated integrity of Moldova's 2024 electoral processes despite documented foreign interference. Independent Observer Performer A fully consolidated democracy in which Moldovan citizens exercise free and fair political rights, enjoy robust civil liberties, and participate meaningfully in a well-functioning government anchored in the rule of law and European integration. uuid-vision-mda-eiu-2025 Governs the Republic of Moldova in service of its citizens by upholding democratic institutions, protecting civil liberties, enabling genuine political participation, and maintaining a political culture conducive to accountable, responsive self-governance. uuid-mission-mda-eiu-2025 Democratic Resilience Sustains democratic processes and institutions under hostile external pressure, including documented foreign interference in elections. Rule of Law Upholds equal application of law, independent judiciary, and accountability of public officials as foundations of democratic governance. European Integration Advances alignment with EU democratic standards as a strategic anchor for institutional reform and citizen welfare. Electoral Integrity Ensures free, fair, pluralistic electoral processes that accurately translate citizen preferences into representative outcomes, even under conditions of foreign interference. uuid-goal-mda-electoral-2025 1 EIU Dimension: Electoral Process and Pluralism. Moldova conducted a presidential election and EU accession referendum in 2024 under documented vote-buying interference by the Russia-linked Ilan Shor network. OSCE broadly validated institutional integrity. The sub-score for this dimension is a primary driver of the overall regime reclassification question raised by civil society. Electoral Score Achieves and maintains the highest feasible EIU Electoral Process and Pluralism sub-score on the 0–10 scale, reflecting free and fair multiparty elections, universal suffrage, and resistance to foreign interference. uuid-obj-mda-electoral-score-2025 1.1 Target benchmark: ≥7.00 (consistent with Flawed Democracy threshold). Actual 2025 sub-score to be populated from EIU dataset at data360.worldbank.org/en/dataset/EIU_DI once available. Electoral Process and Pluralism Sub-Score EIU score (0–10 scale) uuid-pi-mda-electoral-2025 2025-01-01 2025-12-31 7.00 Minimum target consistent with Flawed Democracy classification on this dimension. 2025-01-01 2025-12-31 [TBD] Populate from EIU Democracy Index 2025 full dataset. Moldova 2024 (prior year) score on this dimension was approximately 7.92 per historical series. Government Functioning Maintains effective, accountable, and transparent government operations in which elected officials exercise genuine authority and public institutions perform their mandated functions. uuid-goal-mda-govtfunc-2025 2 EIU Dimension: Functioning of Government. This dimension captures whether elected governments govern effectively and whether checks and balances operate as intended. Judicial proceedings related to foreign election interference actors may be assessed under this or the Civil Liberties dimension depending on EIU methodology application. Government Function Score Achieves and sustains the highest feasible EIU Functioning of Government sub-score, reflecting effective, accountable, and transparent public administration. uuid-obj-mda-govtfunc-score-2025 2.1 Functioning of Government Sub-Score EIU score (0–10 scale) uuid-pi-mda-govtfunc-2025 2025-01-01 2025-12-31 6.00 Target consistent with maintaining or improving 2024 baseline on this dimension. 2025-01-01 2025-12-31 [TBD] Populate from EIU Democracy Index 2025 full dataset. Political Participation Fosters active, voluntary, and informed civic and political engagement by Moldovan citizens across elections, civil society, and public discourse. uuid-goal-mda-participation-2025 3 EIU Dimension: Political Participation. Measures voter turnout, civil society vitality, press freedom, and breadth of political engagement. Moldova's diaspora vote and the 2024 referendum mobilization are relevant factors. Disinformation and vote-buying may suppress authentic participation scores. Participation Score Achieves and sustains the highest feasible EIU Political Participation sub-score, reflecting broad, voluntary, and informed civic engagement. uuid-obj-mda-participation-score-2025 3.1 Political Participation Sub-Score EIU score (0–10 scale) uuid-pi-mda-participation-2025 2025-01-01 2025-12-31 5.00 Target consistent with improving participation breadth and countering disinformation suppression effects. 2025-01-01 2025-12-31 [TBD] Populate from EIU Democracy Index 2025 full dataset. Political Culture Cultivates a civic and political culture in which democratic norms, institutions, and processes are broadly valued, respected, and defended by citizens and political actors alike. uuid-goal-mda-culture-2025 4 EIU Dimension: Political Culture. This dimension is often the most susceptible to foreign influence operations, disinformation, and polarization — all of which Moldova has faced at significant scale from Russia-linked actors. EIU methodology's treatment of resilience vs. polarization outcomes in this dimension is central to Veronica Cretu's methodological critique. Political Culture Score Achieves and sustains the highest feasible EIU Political Culture sub-score, reflecting democratic norms embedded in both elite and mass political behavior. uuid-obj-mda-culture-score-2025 4.1 Political Culture Sub-Score EIU score (0–10 scale) uuid-pi-mda-culture-2025 2025-01-01 2025-12-31 5.63 Target to maintain 2024 baseline while countering disinformation-driven polarization. 2025-01-01 2025-12-31 [TBD] Populate from EIU Democracy Index 2025 full dataset. Civil Liberties Guarantees and enforces the full spectrum of civil liberties — press freedom, freedom of association, personal freedoms, and equal protection — for all persons within Moldova's jurisdiction. uuid-goal-mda-liberties-2025 5 EIU Dimension: Civil Liberties. Legal and judicial proceedings against foreign interference actors (e.g., Ilan Shor network prosecutions) may be scored as either evidence of institutional resilience and rule of law, or as political pluralism concerns, depending on EIU methodology — a distinction central to Veronica Cretu's public inquiry to the EIU Democracy Index team. Civil Liberties Score Achieves and sustains the highest feasible EIU Civil Liberties sub-score, reflecting robust protection of press freedom, personal freedoms, and equal legal protection. uuid-obj-mda-liberties-score-2025 5.1 Civil Liberties Sub-Score EIU score (0–10 scale) uuid-pi-mda-liberties-2025 2025-01-01 2025-12-31 6.47 Target to maintain 2024 baseline; improvement toward Flawed Democracy threshold on this dimension. 2025-01-01 2025-12-31 [TBD] Populate from EIU Democracy Index 2025 full dataset. Overall Democracy Score Achieves the highest feasible composite EIU Democracy Index score, reflecting balanced performance across all five dimensions and consistent with Flawed Democracy or Full Democracy classification. uuid-goal-mda-overall-2025 6 The EIU overall score is the unweighted mean of the five dimension sub-scores. Moldova's reclassification to Hybrid Regime in the 2025 edition implies an overall score falling below 6.00 (the Flawed Democracy lower bound). The 2024 score was approximately 6.32. A companion qualitative indicator captures the regime classification label. Composite Score Achieves and sustains an overall EIU Democracy Index score at or above 6.00, consistent with Flawed Democracy classification, as a composite measure of democratic health across all five dimensions. uuid-obj-mda-composite-score-2025 6.1 Overall EIU Democracy Index Score EIU score (0–10 scale) uuid-pi-mda-overall-score-2025 2025-01-01 2025-12-31 6.00 Minimum threshold for Flawed Democracy classification. Moldova's stated aspiration consistent with EU candidacy trajectory. 2025-01-01 2025-12-31 Hybrid Regime [TBD] Overall numeric score to be populated from EIU Democracy Index 2025 full dataset. Regime classification confirmed as Hybrid Regime per EIU press release of April 7, 2026. Prior year (2024) overall score: approximately 6.32 (Flawed Democracy). Year-over-year trend: downgrade from Flawed Democracy (2024) to Hybrid Regime (2025). Public methodological questions raised by Veronica Cretu (OGP Envoy) regarding whether documented democratic resilience under foreign interference is adequately reflected in the scoring methodology. Regime Classification EIU regime category Democracy Tier uuid-pi-mda-regime-class-2025 2025-01-01 2025-12-31 Flawed Democracy Target regime classification consistent with EU candidate trajectory and 2024 baseline. 2025-01-01 2025-12-31 Hybrid Regime Actual regime classification per EIU Democracy Index 2025. Represents downgrade from Flawed Democracy classification held in prior editions. uuid-admin-mda-eiu-2025 2025-01-01 2025-12-31 2026-04-10 https://data360.worldbank.org/en/dataset/EIU_DI Owen Ambur