Businessman Victor Shelin, the owner of the chain of movie theaters Patria, was elected president of the Social-Democratic Party (SDP) at its XII congress on Saturday, April 17. Outgoing SDP president Dumitru Braghis was instead elected chairman of the party’s national council, Info-Prim Neo reports. Shelin beat his only challenger, Dumitru Braghis, 235 to 193 votes of the attending SDP members. Shelin’s candidature was supported grossly by members from the Gagauz autonomy, including prominent representatives like Gagauz Speaker Ana Harlamenko and Comrat Mayor Nikolay Dudoglo. The new SDP leader targets at least 10 percent of popular vote for his party in the upcoming early parliamentary elections and a fair amount of success in the 2011 local elections. Shelin said the SDP would field a candidate for the Chisinau mayoral run, too. Shelin went on to add he would leave his aides in charge of his business for a couple of years to have more time to allot to his new responsibilities. Dumitru Braghis, unanimously elected as chairman of the SDP national council, said he wasn’t upset by the failure to win another term as president. “The Congress elected what it saw fit to elect, I won’t challenge the outcome and I will continue being an active SDP member. As far as I’m concerned, Victor Shelin is a worthy person and I hope he will be a worthy successor”, said Braghis. In May the Social-Democratic Party of Moldova will celebrate its 20th anniversary of foundation.