The nomination by the Communist Party leadership of business tycoon Vasile Chirtoaca as the party’s candidate for Chisinau Mayor is but an insult, a slap in the face of rank and file Communists, believes former parliamentarian and former Communist Grigore Petrenco.

 

He stated at a news conference at Infotag today that according to the party’s logic, the organization must have promoted working class representatives to essential posts in the republic.

 

“Who is Chirtoaca? A man of business. The grassroots call such people ‘moneybags’. What relation does he have to the Communist Party? Not clear. Moreover, he is quite vulnerable to the repressive machine of the incumbent authorities. To my mind, he is a mutual baby of Voronin and Plahotniuc. The selection of such a personage is not at all accidental. The goal is to continue coalition with the Democratic Party that was begun after the November 30 parliamentary elections and is being continued at the level of the Chisinau City Hall. The forthcoming June 14 local elections may well become the MCP’s swan song. Rank and file Communists are already quitting the organization massively”, said the ex-member of the MCP leadership.

 

He is convinced that the capital city has to be governed by new people, who would be neither puppets nor involved in corruption schemes.

 

Petrenco showed journalists his letter sent to Chairman of the Communist Party Vladimir Voronin yet one year ago, in which the then-parliamentarian described to the party leader how Communists the members of the Chisinau Municipal Council [city legislature] used to participate in shady schemes of distribution of municipal real estate in Chisinau, how they voted in accord with the MCP’s mortal political enemies – the Liberals.

 

Grigore Petrenco called as “outrageous” the explanation he heard from the MCP faction in the Chisinau Municipal Council – that by means of such joint voting together with the Liberals they were allegedly “helping our Communist Party”.

 

“An artificial organ has been created in the MCP faction – a faction council, which takes decisions on most of essential questions instead of the faction. Some members of the MCP faction received unofficial fees in envelopes from the faction leadership for their ‘correct voting’”, stated Grigore Petrenco.

 

He is convinced that all these and many other facts will be yet used in the current election campaign against the Moldovan Communist Party.

 

“One can hardly imagine a discrediting greater than this in Chisinau”, believes the ex-communist.