Bessarabian Peasants' Party

Bessarabian Peasants' Party Moldavian National Democratic Party Partidul Țărănesc din Basarabia Partidul Național-Democrat Moldovenesc
President	Pan Halippa (1918–1921) Ion Inculeț (1921–1923) Ion Pelivan (1923)
Vice-presidents	Anton Crihan Ștefan Ciobanu
Founded	August 23, 1918
Dissolved	September 1923
Preceded by	National Moldavian Party
Merged into	National Liberal Party Romanian National Party
Headquarters	Chișinău, Bessarabia
Newspaper	Cuvânt Moldovenesc Viața Basarabiei Basarabia Glasul Basarabiei
Ideology	Agrarianism Ethnic nationalism (Romanian) Anticommunism Regionalism Agrarian socialism (minority) Separatism (minority)
Political position	Center-right to far-left
National affiliation	Parliamentary Bloc (1919) Federation of National Social Democracy (1920–1921) Bessarabian Bloc (1923)
Politics of Romania Political parties Elections

The Bessarabian Peasants' Party (Romanian: Partidul Țărănesc din Basarabia, PȚB or PȚ-Bas; also Partidul Țărănesc Basarabean, Partidul Țărănist Basarabean)^[1] or Moldavian National Democratic Party (Partidul Național-Democrat Moldovenesc) was an agrarian political party, active in the Kingdom of Romania and, more specifically, the region of Bessarabia. Comprising various pro-Romanian and regionalist factions that had existed within the Moldavian Democratic Republic, it was brought together by shared opposition to Bolshevik Russia and communism. The PȚB, founded in August 1918, was led by Pan Halippa and Ion Inculeț, originally representing, respectively, its right and left wings; Ion Pelivan was the co-chair.

Effectively the government party of Bessarabia in the wake of its formal union with Romania, the PȚB scored a major victory in the 1919 election, when it emerged as the third most popular party in Greater Romania, and an essential partner in government. It was therefore co-opted by the Parliamentary Bloc, formed around the Romanian National Party, until the latter's government was brought down by the People's Party. Although losing several of its chapters before the 1920 elections, it still won Bessarabia by a significant margin, openly embracing the cause of decentralization and regional autonomy.

Rallied with the national opposition by 1921, the PȚB was effectively split over merging into a caucus formed by Ion Mihalache's Peasants' Party and the independent agrarian faction led by Constantin Stere. Halippa supported such a fusion, and took his supporters out of the PȚB; Inculeț reclaimed for himself the party leadership, and, in 1922, formed an alliance with the governing National Liberals. Marginally defeating Halippa and Stere in the election of 1922, the PȚB was again co-opted into government. Inculeț and his supporters entered the National Liberal Party in early 1923, leaving the surviving rump party to merge with the Romanian National Party in September.