Eduard Musuc considers that the decision to exclude him from the Social Democratic Party (PSD) is illegal and represents a reaction to his critical position on the party’s plan for settling the Transnistrian dispute, which suggests leasing out Transnistria to Russia for 30 years, Info-Prim Neo reports. At a news conference on April 10, Eduard Musuc said that the plan presented by the PSD president Dumitru Braghis on March 20 belonged to Braghis, not the party. “The PSD did not participate in the formulation of the plan and has no connection with its presentation. The plan was neither examined nor approved by any of the party’s administrative bodies. Moreover, this document runs counter to the statute, political program and electoral offer of the PSD, which were approved by the party’s National Council and Congress,” Musuc said. Musuc and another two members of the PSD Political Bureau – Igor Lupulciuc and Victor Ciobanu – detached themselves from the plan launched by Braghis. They said the presentation of the document negatively affected the image of the party and the results of the PSD in elections. “We consider the document a provocation that runs counter to the principles of the PSD and Moldova’s national interests, while Braghis’s acts can be described as betrayal of the country and the people,” Eduard Musuc said. As to his exclusion from the PSD, Musuc said that the decision taken by 10 members of the PSD Political Bureau is nil from juridical viewpoint. “The secretary general of the PSD is elected by the Congress by the secret vote of the delegates for a two-year term and only the Congress makes decisions about the activity of the National Council, president and secretary general,” he said. Furthermore, Eduard Musuc says that in accordance with the statute of the PSD, the party’s president has to resign if the party does not have representatives in the Parliament. The president’s duties are taken over by the secretary general until a new president is elected at the next Congress. “Dumitru Bragis resorted to a diversion because it is known that the offensive is the best defensive,” Musuc said. Yesterday, the PSD president Dumitru Braghis has told Info-Prim Neo that the decision was made after they established that Musuc worked against the interests of the PSD and in favor of another election runner during the election campaign and stopped the propagandistic activities in the municipality of Chisinau. Asked what other runner he meant, Braghis said that everybody knew what party he meant. He said he would make statements for the press on April 10, at 13.00. Eduard Musuc headed the Social Democratic Party until December 2007, when the party merged with the Social Democracy Party led by Dumitru Braghis. By a majority vote of the delegates, Dumitru Braghis was elected as president of the unified Social Democratic Party, by secret vote. Eduard Musuc was elected as the party’s secretary general.