The
Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova is a communist
political partyA political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
in
MoldovaMoldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...
, led by
Vladimir VoroninVladimir Nicolaevici Voronin is a Moldovan politician. He was the third President of Moldova from 2001 until 2009 and has been the First Secretary of the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova since 1994...
. It is the only communist party to have held a majority in government in the
post-Soviet statesThe post-Soviet states, also commonly known as the Former Soviet Union or former Soviet republics, are the 15 independent states that split off from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in its dissolution in December 1991...
.
It is part of the
Party of the European LeftThe Party of the European Left, commonly abbreviated to just the European Left, is a political party at European level and an association of democratic socialist and communist political parties in the European Union and other European countries. It was formed in January 2004 for the purposes of...
. Perhaps confusingly, its foreign policy tilt is pro-EU and pro-US, rather than pro-Russia like the similarly communist government in
TransnistriaTransnistria is a breakaway territory located mostly on a strip of land between the Dniester River and the eastern Moldovan border to Ukraine...
.
Activity
It is the current
opposition political partyParliamentary opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. Note that this article uses the term government as it is used in Parliamentary systems, i.e. meaning the administration or the cabinet rather than the state...
in
MoldovaMoldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...
. After the
July 2009 parliamentary election- Pre-election developments :The country's parliament, elected months earlier, was dissolved by president Vladimir Voronin on 15 June 2009, after it had twice failed to elect a new president....
,
Alliance For European IntegrationThe Alliance for European Integration is the ruling coalition in Moldova since the July 2009 election.-Overall context :After April 2009 election and the civil unrest, the climate in Moldova became very polarised. The parliament failed to elect a new president. For this reason, the parliament was...
has agreed to create a governing coalition that pushed the Communist party into opposition.
History
The PCRM was registered as a political party in 1994. The PCRM was part of the Popular Patriotic Forces Front at the time of the
1996 presidential electionThe first round of 1996 Moldovan presidential elections was held in Moldova on 17 November and a run-off round between Petru Lucinschi and Mircea Snegur was held on 1 December 1996.- Results :-References:...
, in which Voronin stood as the coalition's candidate and won 10.3% of the vote, placing third. The party supported
Petru LucinschiPetru Chiril Lucinschi was Moldova's second President .- Biography :Petru Chiril Lucinschi was born on January 27, 1940 in Rădulenii Vechi village, Soroca County, Romania...
in the second round of the election, and following Lucinschi's victory the PCRM was given two positions in the government.
1998 election
In the
March 1998 parliamentary electionA parliamentary election took place in Moldova on March 22, 1998.- Results :At the legislative elections on March 22, 1998, the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova, which was re-legalized in 1994 after being banned in 1991, gained 40 of the 101 places in the Moldovan Parliament,Seats...
, the PCRM won 30.1% of the vote and 40 seats, becoming the largest party in parliament; in its platform, it called for "the rebirth of a socialist society". Despite its strong showing, the PCRM was left in opposition due to the formation of a center-right coalition government,
Alliance for Democracy and ReformsThe Alliance for Democracy and Reforms was a governing coalition, between numerous non-Communist parties, which had the absolute majority in the Moldovan Parliament after the 1998 parliamentary election.- The overall context :...
. Although Lucinschi later nominated
VoroninVladimir Nicolaevici Voronin is a Moldovan politician. He was the third President of Moldova from 2001 until 2009 and has been the First Secretary of the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova since 1994...
as
Prime Minister of MoldovaThe Prime Minister of Moldova is Moldova's head of government. The prime minister is formally appointed by the President and exercises executive power along with the cabinet subject to parliamentary support.-Moldavian Democratic Republic :...
in late 1999, the nomination was unsuccessful because Voronin did not have enough support in parliament. Subsequently the PCRM received 49.9% of the vote in the
February 2001 parliamentary electionMoldovan early parliamentary elections took place on February 25, 2001. Turnout was 67.52 percent.-Election outcome:The Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova won the election. Vladimir Voronin was elected president shortly thereafter by the newly elected parliament-Sources:*...
, winning 71 out of the 101 seats in parliament.
2001 election
With a PCRM parliamentary majority,
VoroninVladimir Nicolaevici Voronin is a Moldovan politician. He was the third President of Moldova from 2001 until 2009 and has been the First Secretary of the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova since 1994...
was elected as President by parliament in April 2001. The Constitutional Court ruled that the President could also lead a political party, and Voronin was re-elected as party leader.
2005 election
It was the ruling political party in
MoldovaMoldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...
. It won the Moldovan parliamentary election, 2005, and provided the President,
Vladimir VoroninVladimir Nicolaevici Voronin is a Moldovan politician. He was the third President of Moldova from 2001 until 2009 and has been the First Secretary of the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova since 1994...
, the Prime Minister,
Zinaida GreceanîiZinaida Greceanîi is a Moldovan politician. She is a member of the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova and was the Prime Minister of Moldova between 31 March 2008 and 14 September 2009...
, and the
Speaker of the Moldovan Parliament-Moldovan Democratic Republic:-Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic:-Moldavian SSR:The Chairmen of the Supreme Soviet of the Moldavian SSR were:-Speakers of Moldovan Parliament:...
,
Marian LupuMarian Lupu is a Moldovan politician and is President of Parliament and Acting President since 2010.-Background and education:...
. Under
VoroninVladimir Nicolaevici Voronin is a Moldovan politician. He was the third President of Moldova from 2001 until 2009 and has been the First Secretary of the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova since 1994...
, it privatized several state-owned industries and governed in a multi-party fashion. It also favors
European integrationRelations between Moldova and the European Union are currently shaped via the European Neighbourhood Policy , a foreign policy instrument of the EU designed for the countries it borders....
and eventual EU membership.
2009 elections
After April 2009 election and the
civil unrestThe 2009 civil unrest in Moldova began on April 7, 2009, in major cities of Moldova before the results of the 2009 Moldovan parliamentary election were announced...
, the climate in Moldova became very polarized. The
parliamentThe Parliament of the Republic of Moldova is a unicameral assembly with 101 seats. Its members are elected by popular vote every 4 years. The parliament then elects a president, who functions as the head of state...
failed to
elect a new presidentAn indirect presidential election was held in Moldova following the April 2009 parliamentary election.- Overview :The incumbent president, Vladimir Voronin, is term-limited and was elected to become speaker of the Parliament of Moldova in early May 2009; the ruling Party of Communists of the...
. For this reason, the parliament was dissolved and
snap elections- Pre-election developments :The country's parliament, elected months earlier, was dissolved by president Vladimir Voronin on 15 June 2009, after it had twice failed to elect a new president....
were held. At the
July 29 polls- Pre-election developments :The country's parliament, elected months earlier, was dissolved by president Vladimir Voronin on 15 June 2009, after it had twice failed to elect a new president....
the Communist Party received 44.7% of the vote. That gave the former ruling party 48 MPs, and the remaining 53 seats in the 101-member chamber went to four opposition parties,
Alliance For European IntegrationThe Alliance for European Integration is the ruling coalition in Moldova since the July 2009 election.-Overall context :After April 2009 election and the civil unrest, the climate in Moldova became very polarised. The parliament failed to elect a new president. For this reason, the parliament was...
.
The activity of the Party of Communists between 2001 and 2009 will not be covered by the
Commission for the Study of the Communist Dictatorship in MoldovaThe Commission for the Study and Evaluation of the Communist Totalitarian Regime of the Republic of Moldova is a commission instituted in Moldova by acting President Mihai Ghimpu to investigate the Communist regime and provide a comprehensive report allowing for the condemnation of Communism as...
only if it is proven that it perpetuates some practices of the former
Communist Party of MoldovaThe Communist Party of Moldova was one of the fourteen republic-level parties that formed the Communist Party of the Soviet Union until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Indeed, the PCM was the republic-level chapter of the CPSU in the Moldavian SSR from 1940 to 1991...
. The commission will study and analyse the communist regime from 1917 to 1991.
Ideology
According to its Statute adopted in 2008, article 1, the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova is a "lawful successor and heir of the Communist Party of [Soviet] Moldavia both in terms of ideas and traditions".
While officially espousing a Leninist Communist doctrine, there is debate over their policies.
The EconomistThe Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...
considers it a centre-right party, communist only in name, whereas Romanian political scientist
Vladimir TismăneanuVladimir Tismăneanu is a Romanian and American political scientist, political analyst, sociologist, and professor at the University of Maryland, College Park...
argues that the party is communist in the classical sense, as it has not changed much since the fall of the
Soviet UnionThe Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. However, Romanian and foreign observers usually are misled by the name of the party, because the Moldovan Communists are far from their cognate parties and certainly different from their Russian counterparts, which are indeed unreformed. Ion Marandici, a Moldovan political scientist considers that the success story of the Moldovan Communists is mainly due to the Communists' capacity to attract the votes of the ethnic minorities and the Romanian-speakers identifying as Moldovans, by proposing a Moldovenist nation and state-project. Also the Communists' control of the major electronic media, the authoritarian practices regarding human rights activists, the support of the West in April 2005 helped their consolidation. The incapacity of the opposition to unite is due mainly to the specific electoral rules providing incentives for the emergence and creation of new parties. The decline of the Communists followed after Marian Lupu, a keyfigure in the Moldovan politics left the Communists' Party and joined the Democratic Party, thus bringing with him the Moldovan supporters of the Communists.
Last proposed electoral program
For the current period of governance, the PCRM has outlined the following goals for the country:
- A new quality of life;
- Economic modernisation;
- European integration;
- Consolidation of the society.
The whole electoral program can be read on the official site of PCRM.
Electoral results
Results since 1998
(year links to election page) |
| Polls Elections in Moldova gives information on election and election results in Moldova.Moldova elects on national level a legislature. The Parliament has 101 members, elected for a four year term by proportional representation with a 5% electoral threshold...
|
Type of Election |
Votes |
% |
MPs |
| 1998 A parliamentary election took place in Moldova on March 22, 1998.- Results :At the legislative elections on March 22, 1998, the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova, which was re-legalized in 1994 after being banned in 1991, gained 40 of the 101 places in the Moldovan Parliament,Seats...
|
Parliament |
487,002 |
30.01 |
40 |
| 2001 Moldovan early parliamentary elections took place on February 25, 2001. Turnout was 67.52 percent.-Election outcome:The Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova won the election. Vladimir Voronin was elected president shortly thereafter by the newly elected parliament-Sources:*...
|
Parliament |
794,808 |
50.07 |
71 |
| 2005 |
Parliament |
716,336 |
45.98 |
56 |
| 2009 (April) |
Parliament |
760,551 |
49.48 |
60 |
| 2009 (July) - Pre-election developments :The country's parliament, elected months earlier, was dissolved by president Vladimir Voronin on 15 June 2009, after it had twice failed to elect a new president....
|
Parliament |
704,876 |
45.07 |
48 |
| 2010 A parliamentary election was held in Moldova on 28 November 2010 after indirect presidential elections failed for the second time in late 2009.-Pre-election developments:...
|
Parliament |
676,291 |
39.29 |
42 |
External links