A mechanical engineer by training, Pavel Filip walked into politics in 2010, as part of Vladimir Plahotniuc’s team in the Moldovan Democratic Party.

His professional career started in the private sector: he worked for 17 years in various positions at the candy-maker Bucuria SA in Chisinau, finally getting promoted as its manager. During 2008-2011, Mr. Filip run Tutun-CTC, a state-controlled tobacco and cigarette manufacturer, which sold a minority share to private individuals and entities in January 2019.

On 20 January 2016 Pavel Filip won a confidence motion in the Parliament as the new prime minister of Moldova. Opposition rallied massive protests following the investiture procedure; the crowd stormed the Parliament building while the new cabinet members were escaping through a secret exit. The same night, close to midnight, they were sworn in before the chief of state, during an unannounced ceremony.

At the 2019 parliamentary elections Pavel Filip swept a clear majority of votes in the uninominal constituency №20 Straseni, his home district. In the new legislative body he assumed leadership in the PDM fraction but gave up in July 2019. He cited the need “to withdraw sometimes, to reflect on things of the moment, in order to take decisions later that would give an advantage to the team.”

Along the party line, he takes over the interim chairmanship in PDM in June 2019. This happened at the time when the Democrats agreed to surrender power to the new parliamentary majority of ACUM and PSRM and their leader Vladimir Plahotniuc hastily fled the country and then let the party know he had renounced its chairmanship.

On 7 September 2019, at the IX Extraordinary Congress of PDM, Pavel Filip is elected president of the party.

Pavel Filip’s two sons, Iulian and Dumitru, control 99% in Burex SRL, a firm that owns the Ciocoville chain of candy markets. Another 1% rests with Victor Filip, a nephew of the former prime minister.