Vlad Plahotniuc remains First Deputy Speaker

The MPs of the ruling alliance rejected the bill to dismiss the First Deputy Head of Parliament Vlad Plahotniuc, which was put forward by the Communist faction and was included in the agenda with the accord of the First Deputy Speaker himself. As many as 34 lawmakers voted in favor of his dismissal and the number of votes was insufficient for adopting the bill, Info-Prim Neo reports. Communist MP Grigore Petrenko said that the reasons why this bill was proposed are the deeds of the First Deputy Speaker, whereby the image of the Parliament is damaged at national level and of the Republic of Moldova at foreign level. “Using his post and invoking the parliamentary immunity, Vlad Plahotniuc avoids responsibility in several legal cases started abroad. The cases concerning the appropriation of shares in financial companies that involve Vlad Plahotniuc represent an additional argument in favor of his dismissal,” he stated. His colleague Artur Reshetnikov proposed that the voting should be secret and his proposal was accepted by the parliamentary majority. Vlad Plahotniuc said the Communists’ bill is aimed not against him, but against the Alliance for European Integration. “The final objective of the PCRM is to cause a large-scale political crisis that would throw the country into chaos and to provoke early elections. This is the real goal of this campaign. The day the President was elected, the Communist Party understood that they will remain in the opposition for a long time. From that moment, they have been trying to engage the PDM and other components of the alliance into all kinds of adventures that would lead to the destruction of the parliamentary majority. But all in vein… Actually, they put an important part of the blame for their failure on me,” he stated. The head of the Democratic faction Dumitru Diacov said that the Communists had had no objection to Vlad Plahotniuc during three years. “Unfortunately, this is how they do politics in Moldova - if there is a political opponent, he should be removed and his influence should be diminished. I don’t want to be on different sides of the barricade. We should have constructive discussions so as to improve life in Moldova,” he said. The leader of the Socialists Igor Dodon said that the PCRM’s bill is an act of populism and an attempt to bring the Liberal leader Mihai Ghimpu, who is the Communists’ friend, into the post of First Deputy Speaker. The bill to dismiss the First Deputy Head of Parliament wasn’t endorsed by the legal commission for appointments and immunities. The commission’s chairman Victor Popa said that the Communists did not provide evidence to substantiate their assertions.