Vladimir Voronin
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- This article is about a Moldovan politician. For the Ukrainian footballer, see Andriy Voronin.
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| Became President: | April 7, 2001 |
| Predecessor: | Petru Lucinschi |
| Date of Birth: | May 25, 1941 |
| Political Party: | Party of the Communists of the Republic of Moldova |
Vladimir Nicolae Voronin (born May 25, 1941; in Russian: Владимир Николаевич Воронин) is a Moldovan communist politician, and the current President of the Republic of Moldova.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early career
Voronin was born in the village Corjova, Dubăsari, in Transnistria. He graduated the Co-operative College of Chişinău (1961), the Soviet 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 Home Affairs (Interior) of the Soviet Union (1991).
He began working in 1961 as the head of the 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 worked as first-secretary of the Bender (Tighina) 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 [1] to quell the anti-Soviet popular demonstrations of November 7th and 10th 1989. 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 as 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 has been 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, large demonstrations took place in opposition to 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 Council of Europe mediation.
In 2003, Voronin's government backtracked over signing a Russian-proposed federalization settlement with the separatist Transnistria region. In 2004, Voronin branded the leadership of the Transnistria "a transnational criminal group", and ordered an economic blockade of Transnistria after the breakaway region closed 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 and from the Democratic and Social Liberal factions, after Voronin 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 former Chişinău Mayor Serafim Urechean as the second-largest party in Parliament, with 26 seats.
Voronin is married and has two children. He is an economical engineer, political science graduate, and jurist by formation. He has military rank of Major General from the former-USSR Ministry of Interior (equivalent of NATO OF-6 Brigadier-General [1] [2]). Some argue that he also holds Russian citizenship in addition to the one of the Republic of Moldova, from the time he lived as a private person in Moscow in 1991-1993.
[edit] Main goals of political agenda
- closer links with the European Union
- solving the Transnistria conflict
- NATO cooperation (without membership)
- Friendship with Russia [2]
[edit] References
- ^ Luke March (September 2005). "The Moldovan Communists: From Leninism to Democracy?". Eurojournal.org.
- ^ Friendship with Russia Is Our Main Asset, interview with Vladimir Voronin in Kommersant
| Preceded by: Petru Lucinschi |
President of the Republic of Moldova 2001-present |
Succeeded by: incumbent |
| Presidents of Moldova |  |
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|---|---|---|
| Mircea Snegur | Petru Lucinschi | Vladimir Voronin | ||
