Republic of Moldova: Liberal Mihai Ghimpu was elected the Parliament's speaker

The leader of the Moldavian Liberal Party (PL) Mihai Ghimpu was elected speaker of Moldova’s Parliament, meeting 53 votes from the deputies of the Alliance for European Integration. Nobody voted against him. The Communists boycotted the voting.

Mihai Ghimpu: A hard life is only where here’s communism, dictatorship. A good life is where there’s democracy and I hope that we, the Alliance members, will built what the citizens of the Republic of Moldova have been waiting for years.

The session’s president Ion Hadarca: We demonstrated courage with this election. We proved responsibility during crisis. We showed that the Alliance is united and we hope that no one will ever doubt the legality of this decision.

Hadarca congratulated Ghimpu and thanked the deputies for their choice. The previous dean of the Parliament, communist Ivan Calin, left the session together with his friends in an ironic mood: he offered Hadarca the chance to lead the session.

Vlad Filat: It is important that the communist party legally transfers the power, the way we received it in 2001.

Dorin Chirtoaca: One of our priorities is getting rid of the difficult totalitarian inheritance and implementing a rightful democratic state. The change in forces in the Parliament demonstrates that the heavy communist governance is over. From this moment on, we consider that president Voronin’s mandate is finished.