Vladimir Voronin
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| Vladimir Nicolae Voronin | |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 7 April 2001 |
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| Prime Minister | Dumitru Braghiş Vasile Tarlev Zinaida Greceanîi |
| Preceded by | Petru Lucinschi |
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| Born | 25 May 1941 Corjova, Moldavian SSR |
| Political party | PCRM |
Vladimir Nicolae Voronin (Russian: Владимир Николаевич Воронин, Vladimir Nikolaevich Voronin, born on May 25, 1941) is a Moldovan politician. He has been the President of the Republic of Moldova since 2001, and the First Secretary of the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova (PCRM) since 1994. He is Europe's first democratically elected communist head of state (the second being Dimitris Christofias of Cyprus, who is the first in the European Union).
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early career
Vladimir Voronin was born in the village Corjova, Dubăsari district of the Moldavian SSR. Despite his russified name, his ethnic origins are Romanian. His grandfather was Isidor Sârbu.[1] [2][3] Voronin's mother, Pelagheia Bujeniţă, died on July 2, 2005.[4]
Voronin graduated from the Cooperation College (Kooperativny technikum) of Chişinău (1961), the All-Union Institute for Food Industry (1971), the Academy of Social Sciences of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1983), and the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Soviet Union (1991).
He began working in 1961 as the head of a bakery in the town of Criuleni. From 1966 until 1971, Voronin held the offices of vice-director of the bread factory in Criuleni and head of the bread factory in Dubăsari.
For the next ten years, he was active in the state administration of the Moldavian SSR, being in turn a member of the Dubăsari and Ungheni township executive committees, of the Ungheni District Executive Committee, and, starting 1983, inspector and vice-director of the Organization Section of the Central Committee of the Moldavian branch of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. In 1985, he was appointed head of section in the Council of Ministers of the Moldavian SSR. Between 1985 and 1989, Voronin served as first-secretary of the Bender Town Committee of the Communist Party. In 1989 and 1990, he held the office of the Minister of Home Affairs of the Moldavian SSR. In this capacity he advocated against the use of force to quell the anti-Soviet popular demonstrations of November 7 and 10th 1989.[5] Voronin was also a member of the Supreme Soviet of the Moldavian SSR of 10th and 11th legislatures.
In 1993, Voronin became the co-president of the Organizational Committee for the creation of the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova (PCRM). In 1994 he was elected First Secretary of the PCRM. In the same year, he was candidate for the post of President of the now-independent Republic of Moldova. In March 1998, Vladimir Voronin was elected as Member of the Parliament, and served as member of its Permanent Bureau, and as president of the PCRM parliamentary faction.
In February 2001, he was again elected Member of the Parliament (the 15th legislature since the creation of Moldavian SSR in 1940).
[edit] As President
He was elected President of the Republic of Moldova by the Parliament on April 7, 2001. Politically, Voronin has maintained his commitment to the reduction of Moldova's chronic poverty by allocating more resources to social safety net items such as health, education, and increasing pensions and salaries. His tenure has been marked by fluctuating relations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. Voronin proceeded with former President Petru Lucinschi's plans to privatize several important state-owned industries, and on occasion even broke with his own party over important issues.
From January to April 2002, opposition forces organized large demonstrations in protest against several controversial government proposals, including expanded use of the Russian language in schools, and its designation as a second official language. While the demonstrations were tense at times, the government did not use force and ultimately agreed to mediation by the Council of Europe.
In 2003, Voronin's government backtracked over signing a Russian-proposed federalization settlement with the breakaway region of Transnistria. In 2004, Voronin branded the leadership of Transnistria "a transnational criminal group", and ordered an economic blockade of Transnistria after its authorities closed several Moldovan-speaking schools.
In March 2005 parliamentary elections, the PCRM received 46.1% of the vote, or 56 seats in the 101-member Parliament —more than enough for the 51-vote minimum required to remain in government, but short of the 61 votes necessary to elect a president. However, President Voronin was re-elected with support from the Christian Democratic People's Party, the Democratic and Social Liberal factions, after he promised to deliver on needed reforms and Euro-Atlantic integration for the country. The latter two factions broke away from the Electoral Bloc “Moldova Democrată” following the elections, leaving the Our Moldova Alliance (AMN) of the former Mayor of Chişinău Serafim Urechean as the second-largest party in Parliament, with 26 seats.
[edit] Main goals of political agenda
- Closer ties with the European Union;[citation needed]
- Solving the Transnistria conflict;
- NATO cooperation (without membership);
- Friendship with Russia[6] and the restoration of the Soviet Union (the PCRM is part of the UCP-CPSU led by Gennady Zyuganov);
- Independence, as opposed to a unification with Romania.[7]
[edit] Personal life
Vladimir Voronin is married and has two children. He is an economical engineer, political science graduate, and jurist by formation. He has the military rank of Major General from the former-USSR Ministry of Interior (equivalent of NATO OF-6 Brigadier General - see Ranks and insignia of the Soviet military and Ranks and insignia of NATO). Some argue that he also holds Russian citizenship in addition to the one of the Republic of Moldova, because he used to receive a pension as a former Russian Ministry of Interior employee, from the time he lived as a private person in Moscow in 1991-1993. [8]
[edit] References
- ^ (Russian) An early publication about this fact was in 2005 by Gheorghe Budeanu in the Romanian weekly Timpul, issue 328 (Russian translation of the article).
- ^ (Romanian) Ziua, 27 March 2008 (full article in Romanian)
- ^ Ziua, 27 March 2008 (Short version of the article in English)
- ^ (Russian) "Mother of Moldovan President Voronin Died"
- ^ "The Moldovan Communists: From Leninism to Democracy?" by Luke March, Eurojournal.org, September 2005.
- ^ Friendship with Russia Is Our Main Asset, interview with Vladimir Voronin in Kommersant
- ^ (Romanian)Ziarul de Iasi: "Voronin: Bucurestiul nu e fratele mai mare, cu Rusia avem o relatie umana"
- ^ Azi.md: "PRP urging President Voronin to pour light on some details in his biography"
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by Petru Lucinschi |
President of Moldova 2001 – present |
Incumbent |
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