The defection of MP Sergiu Sirbu from the Communist Party is a significant loss as he was one of the party’s heavyweights, but it will not lead to the ruining of the PCRM, political analyst Igor Botan stated for Info-Prim Neo. “Sergiu Sirbu is a competent person with prospects. He is a loss for the PCRM. Sergiu Sirbu probably forms part of those who share the idea of European integration, not of Eurasian integration. After the PCRM changed its strategic vector and announced that the integration into the Russia-Belarus-Kazakhstan Customs Union is its strategic goal, it has only one tactic - to boycott everything. This probably becomes boring and also shows that the party has no other ideas,” stated the analyst. Igor Botan anticipates that the PCRM will be able to score many points in elections campaigns because it still can count on the support of the persons with Russophile sympathy and on the nostalgic pensioners. “The party’s social base remains rather larger. That’s why I think that the leaving of a person like Sergiu Sirbu is painful for the party, but this cannot ruin it,” he said. The analyst also considers that the lawmaker may join the Party of Socialists or the Democratic Party. Sergiu Sirbu left the Communist Party and its parliamentary group on December 12. He said that he no longer identifies himself with this party. Sergiu Sirbu will sit as an independent lawmaker, but does not exclude that he will join a definitely left political organization.