New leadership of Democrats' party of Moldova to be chosen at its extraordinary Congress in late July

Chisinau, 29 June /MOLDPRES/ – The General Secretary (SG) and all deputy heads of the Democrats' party of Moldova (PDM) have resigned and the PDM's extraordinary Congress will be held on 27 July. The National Political Council (CPN) of PDM decided on Saturday, 29 June, the PDM National Political Council said.

The statements, after the Council meeting, have been made by the head of Democrats' faction in Parliament of Moldova, Pavel Filip, at a press conference, which has said that it might be the last press meeting in existing headquarters of PDM.

According to Pavel Filip, who assures interim presidential office until 27 July, "the congress should be organised quickly, after all the conferences of the territorial organisations in the country, which will delegate representatives to the congress, where we shall elect a new leadership of the party. Similarly, it will be approved a new party programme."

"We have all come to the conclusion that the PDM remains a strong political force, necessary for Moldova, being a force that balances things in the state. Today we have an unnatural coalition, and we all understand that then there will be a need for such a power to ensure development of the country," said Pavel Filip.

Also, the head of PDM faction has said that "this political force can no longer be the Democrats' party in the formula which it is today". "We are aware of it and we have a very short period of time to carry out a deep analysis of what had happened in PDM, realise what needs to be altered after the congress to have a political formation of social orientation built on European values", said Pavel Filip.

Asked whether ex – deputy head of PDM, Andrian Candu, and ex – SG, Constantin Botnari, will also submit their MP's mandates, Filip has said that "we have decided not to get involved in making decisions regarding MP's mandates and party membership". "We have a hot time to prepare the congress, and decisions will be taken by mutual agreement of the whole team. But if there are adopted some other decisions, we shall inform," said acting head of PDM.

PDM announced on 14 June that it withdrew from governance, where it had been since 2016. The decision came after almost a week of political crisis, following the creation of a coalition of the Socialists' party of Moldova (PSRM) and Block ACUM of Platform DA and Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS).