The deputy chairman of the Democratic Party Igor Corman was elected Speaker by 58 votes on May 30. His opponent, Communist MP Sergiu Stati polled 31 votes, IPN reports.

Igor Corman was put forward by the Democratic parliamentary group as a result of the negotiations on the constitution of a parliamentary majority. The members of the Liberal group led by Mihai Gimp didn’t take part in the voting. Three members of the group of Socialists, except for Veronica Abramciuc, also refused to vote, arguing these are political games. Unaffiliated MP Mihai Godea abstained for the same reason.

The PCRM asked that the election of the Speaker be invalidated because many of the ballots had marks on them.

Igor Corman, 43, is from Ciulucani, Telenesti. He is a Doctor of History. In 2004-2009, he had served as Moldova’s Ambassador to Germany and, simultaneously, to Denmark. In 2009, he entered Parliament on the Democratic ticket. Later he was named as chairman of the commission on foreign policy and European integration. He knows German, English and Russian, is married and had two children.

Former Speaker Marian Lupu was voted out of office by 76 votes on April 26, at the proposal of the PCRM.