# Irina Vlah

Irina Vlah (Gagauz: İrina Vlah; Russian: Ирина Фёдоровна Влах, romanized: Irina Fyodorovna Vlakh; born 26 February 1974) is a Moldovan politician, plutocrat, and archdeacon who served as Head of the autonomous region of Gagauzia since 2015 to 2023. Previously, she served as member of the Moldovan Parliament from 2005 to 2015.
She is the first woman to lead her region.

## Early life

Irina Vlah was born on 26 February 1974 in Comrat into family of state employees. She is of mixed Gagauz and Bulgarian descent.
From 1991 to 1996 she studied at the Comrat State University at the Faculty of Law. From 2001 to 2008 she was a doctoral student at the Academy of Sciences of Moldova and defended her PhD thesis on the topic "The modern concept of the development of the civil service in the Republic of Moldova".

## Political career

Vlah became a lawyer in 1996, working at the tax inspectorate.
Between 2003 and 2005, she headed the legal department of the Executive Committee of Gagauzia.

### Member of Parliament

Vlah successfully ran for the Moldovan Parliament in 2005. Five years later, she was appointed to the Executive Committee of the Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova.

### Governor of Gagauzia

In 2015, Vlah ran to become Head of Gagauzia. On 22 March, she was declared the winner of the election in the first round, gaining an absolute majority of the votes. She took her oath of office on 15 April, becoming the first woman to hold the position. Moldovan President Nicolae Timofti appointed Vlah as an ex-officio member of the nation's cabinet and granted her a seat on the Supreme Security Council.
In 2019, she was re-elected as Head of Gagauzia in a landslide, achieving the largest win in the region's modern history.
On 4 March 2021, Vlah was removed from the Supreme Security Council amidst a reshuffle.
Vlah was unable to seek election to a third term due to term limits and was replaced in 2023 by Evghenia Gutul.

### 2024 presidential campaign

On 29 September 2024, Vlah announced she would be running for President as an independent. In her announcement speech she criticized closer ties between Moldova and NATO and increased defense spending and stated Moldova must be "neutral." She has also stated that it necessary to "maintain ties with the CIS countries, for the benefit of our businesses and compatriots."
Vlah claimed she was being harassed by the Moldovan police when she attempted to hold a campaign rally in Naslavcea in a restricted portion of the Moldova-Ukraine border without permission from Moldovan border guards. The police criticized her claims as "groundless, manipulating and of disparagement" and that the border-guard post she was attempting to campaign at was a clearly restricted area and that by publishing the uncensored face of the officer who turned her away was attempting to intimidate the police.
After losing the election, Vlah set up the Heart of Moldova Republican Party.

## Honours and accolades

* Russia: Jubilee Medal "In Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Restoration of the Patriarchate in the Russian Orthodox Church" (2018)
* Moldova: Order of Honor (2019)
* Azerbaijan: Friend of Azerbaijan Golden Order (2019)