Moldovan Democratic Party's ninth extraordinary congress elects formation's leadership

Chisinau, 7 September /MOLDPRES/ - About 800 delegates from all Moldovan districts, members of the Democratic Party of Moldova (PDM) assembled at the formation’s ninth extraordinary congress in Chisinau today. The participants in the event elected Pavel Filip PDM president and the Democrats’ national political council elected Alexandru Jizdan as the party’s secretary general.  

„The Democratic Party went through a complicated period. One can have more achievements and find himself in opposition. Determination and will, much work is necessary, as we have professionals, in order to become a popular party, appreciated and loved by citizens. I have been member of the Democratic Party for ten years; this is the only party I have been member of and I will continue to do my utmost to develop this formation. The sole force capable to mobilize people is the truth and I will be guided by truth,” Pavel Filip said.  

Among the speakers, there were leaders of the party, among whom the former PDM deputy leader, ex-speaker of parliament, MP Andrian Candu. He said that “the Democrats ended a chapter of life and work; yet, now they turn the page and start writing a new chapter in history.” “We will put aside the emotions, we will forget the troubles and we will not forget that an army becomes victorious when it acts as a single entity. General mobilization is needed, with confidence and dedication,” Andrian Candu said.     

For his part, the head of the PDM faction in parliament, Dumitru Diacov, said that “the Democratic Party has always ensured the political balance in the country, being able to discuss both with the left and right sides.”    

The agenda of the Democrats’ congress included an activity report of the party, unveiled by Pavel Filip, discussions on this report, election of the members of the national political party, national auditing commission, college of ethics and arbitration, as well as approval of amendments to the PDM Statute. At the same time, the delegates adopted a political Declaration and a Resolution of the Congress.     

The Democratic Party was set up in February 1997, initially having the title of Movement of a Democratic and Prosperous Moldova. At the parliamentary elections from March 1998, the electoral bloc created based on the Movement, Bloc for a Democratic and Prosperous Moldova, picked up over 18 per cent of the votes and, respectively, got 24 MP mandates, which allowed it participating in the governance within the Alliance for Democracy and Reforms (ADR). Beginning with 1997 till the summer of 2009, the party was led by Dumitru Diacov, who held the office of parliament speaker during 1997-2001. Starting from 2009 till 2019, PDM was at rule in alliances and independently. Following the 24 February 2019 parliamentary elections, PDM ruled to withdraw from governance on 14 June 2019, in order to unlock the crisis in Moldova.     

Pavel Filip is the fourth president of Moldova’s Democratic Party following Dumitru Diacov, Marian Lupu and Vlad Plahotniuc. The new leader of the Democrats was born in the Panasesti village, central Straseni district, on 10 April 1966. He is engineer by profession. Filip acted as Moldova’s prime minister. Earlier, beginning with January 2011 and till his swearing in the office of PM, in January 2016, Pavel Filip was information technologies and communications minister in the cabinets led by Filat (2), Leanca, Gaburici and Strelet. Filip was deputy president of the Moldovan Democratic Party, after which, for a short period, he acted as interim PDM president. Today, the delegates to the ninth extraordinary congress unanimously elected Pavel Filip plenipotentiary president of PDM. At a proposal by president Filip, the national political council unanimously elected Alexandru Jizdan as PDM secretary general.