Vladimir Voronin refuses to chair the first session of Parliament: “Political dignity does not allow me”
Communist leader Vladimir Voronin, who has served as head of state, deputy, and minister, announced that he will not preside over the session to establish the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova for the 12th Legislature. This decision goes against the tradition that assigns this responsibility to the oldest elected deputy.
Vladimir Voronin, who ran for the September 28 parliamentary elections on the list of the Patriotic Electoral Bloc of Socialists, Communists, Heart and Future of Moldova, is 84 years old and was supposed to chair the constituent meeting, announced for October 22.
In a message published on the official website of the Party of Communists, Voronin explained why, as the oldest, he will not chair the first session of Parliament.
Accusing "numerous violations, manipulations and falsifications" in the September 28 elections, Vladimir Voronin said that "political dignity" does not allow him to sit in the parliamentary presidium "not even for a few minutes", after the "two terms as president and 11 terms as a deputy in Parliament".
The communist leader also stated that the current composition of the Legislative "does not reflect the real preferences of Moldovan society" and that power was allegedly taken over through the use of administrative resources and through "unprecedented pressure on the opposition and citizens, by fueling military hysteria and intimidation of voters, by wild propaganda and cleaning the information field, by deception and manipulation".
After Voronin's refusal to chair the October 22 session, the mission will fall to conductor Nicolae Botgros, elected deputy on the lists of the Action and Solidarity Party. The maestro is 73 years old.
According to the procedure, the chairman of the session will give the floor to the president of the Constitutional Court to present the report on the results of the parliamentary election and validate the mandates of the elected deputies.
After the legal establishment of the Parliament, the chairman of the Legislative, the vice-chairmen are elected and the Standing Bureau is formed.
Within ten days after the legal establishment of the Parliament, the parliamentary factions will be established, which will operate based on their own regulations.
The Parliament is considered legally established from the day of the first session of the Legislature.
In the previous Legislature, the oldest person who presided over the first session was Eduard Smirnov, who was 82 years old at the time.
