UPDATE: Vladimir Voronin was elected speaker of Moldovan Parliament

UPDATE: Vladimir Voronin is now speaker of Moldovan Parliament, according to Reuters.

Voronin had been nominated by the Communist Party and was elected speaker with 60 votes in favour. He already completed two presidential mandates. The opposition parties boycotted Tuesday’s elections.

The Parliament in Chisinau, Moldova’s capital, will nominate the country’s head of state. According to the Moldovan law, a nominee has to receive at least 61 votes in favour in order to become state president.

The opposition will restrain from voting the next head of state and it has rejected the option of having a deputy speaker for the Parliament. This aspect conveys the Parliament’s speaker with far greater decision-making authority as compared to the head of state. In these circumstances, Vladimir Vornin is expected to have strong decision-making attributes in the country’s matters.