Igor Dodon officially becomes member of PCRM on Lenin's birthday

Communist MP Igor Dodon received his card of member of the Communists Party (PCRM) today, April 22, when it is 140 years of the birth of the Russian revolutionary Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. The card was handed over by the leader of the PCRM Vladimir Voronin in front of the monument to Lenin located at Moldexpo. Admirers of the Russian leader came to lay flowers to the monument on his birthday, Info-Prim Neo reports. It is a tradition of the PCRM to hand over membership cards on Lenin's birthday. “The PCRM has a future as it is a party that is modernizing. I trust this family,” Igor Dodon said when he received his card. He addressed the political opponents, saying they will not be able to dismember this large party. Asked why Igor Dodon was the first to receive his membership card of the 20 newly accepted members, Vladimir Voronin said Igor Dodon was an ordinary members of the party as the other about 32,000 members. Igor Dodon considers that the PCRM should be modernized. Earlier, he said the Communists Party needs a re-branding, but it will use the same symbols in the future elections. Vladimir Voronin agrees that the party must be modernized, but he is against changing its symbols. “The symbols are symbols and we should not play with them as somebody wishes. They have been used by many generations of members of the PCRM and make us different from other parties,” he said. Igor Dodon, 35, is an economist by profession. He had been First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Trade in the Cabinet headed by Zinaida Greceanyi until September 2, 2009, when he resigned. Earlier, Vladimir Voronin said he does not consider Dodon as a successor to him as party leader because he was not a member of the PCRM.