The deputies of the first Parliament of the Republic of Moldova are asking the incumbent lawmakers to change the way the parliaments are numbered. “The Parliament established in 1990 was the first democratically elected legislative and not a successor of the string of parliaments from the Soviet empire, therefore it ought to be considered the first legislature and not the 12th”, Pantelei Sandulache, the chairman of the Association “Parlamentul '90” stated today, February 25. To advance parliamentarism in Moldova, the Association plans to hold on April 16 in Chisinau a scientific conference dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the first democratically elected parliament. “At this conference we intend to demonstrate the true face of the Soviet empire, with details on the emergence of the Transnistrian conflict. We want to elucidate Russia's role and recall the declarations of the then parliament about the Russian military aggression on the Transnistrian territory”, stated Petru Munteanu, a former MP. The chairman of the first parliament, Alexandru Mosanu, says he regrets that Moldova is the only state that has to condemn communism a second time, recalling that the first parliament did that already. Another deputy of the first parliament, Anatol Taranu, says writing about the Moldovan parliamentarism is difficult in the absence of the minutes from the first sessions, which burnt on April 7, 2009. The former lawmakers say the Association doesn't have a common position on whether there is a need for a new constitution or the existent one could be amended instead, but they insist that the constitution's preamble must include the Declaration of Independence, which makes references to the language and the history of the people of the Republic of Moldova. Before the conference, the Association intends to publish a photographic album dedicated to the first parliament (1990-1994).