After more than 30 years at the head of the Communist Party of Moldova, Vladimir Voronin handed over the leadership of the PCRM to the people of convicted fugitive Ilan Șor
After more than three decades at the head of the Communist Party of the Republic of Moldova (PCRM), a group he founded and transformed into a dominant force on the Moldovan political scene, Vladimir Voronin has resigned as party president.
Vladimir Voronin/PHOTO: privesc.eu
The decision was taken during the 11th PCRM Congress, held in Chisinau, where the delegates elected MP Diana Caraman as president. At the same time, Voronin was appointed honorary president of the formation, a position that preserves his symbolic influence on the party.
The Congress brought together 254 delegates from all districts and municipalities of the Republic of Moldova and marked the beginning of a new stage for one of the oldest political formations in the country.
Who is the new leader of the PCRM?
Diana Caraman, the new head of PCRM
Diana Caraman currently leads the PCRM faction in Parliament and is considered one of the influential figures of the current generation of communist leaders.
According to information published by Deschide.MD, his name has been associated in recent years with the circle of influence of the convicted fugitive Ilan Șor. The publication reported that, in the period 2022-2025, Caraman would have been among the politicians paid for activities coordinated by the Șor group, along with several former socialist deputies. This information has not been confirmed by a final court decision.
The new leadership of PCRM also includes Constantin Starîș and Vladimir Telnov, elected secretaries of the Central Committee. Both were mentioned in the public space in connection with activities or persons associated with the group led by Ilan Şor.
“A new stage in the history of the party”
In her first speech as PCRM leader, Diana Caraman stated that the party must preserve its traditional values but adapt to new political realities.
“Today is a special day for me. The PCRM Congress has given me the confidence to lead the party. We have a rich history, built on the principles of social justice, statehood, sovereignty and respect for the working man“, she declared.
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Caraman emphasized that the formation is entering a modernization stage and that the objective of the new leadership is to get closer to the electorate and strengthen the party's position on the political scene.
For its part, PCRM sent in a statement that the decisions adopted at the congress mark the beginning of a period of “renewal”, based on the continuity of the political course established by the founding generation led by Vladimir Voronin.
Voronin, the man who dominated Moldovan politics for a decade
The departure of Vladimir Voronin from the leadership of PCRM ends an important chapter in the political history of the Republic of Moldova.
Former Interior Minister of the Moldavian SSR during the last years of the Soviet Union, Voronin participated in the founding of the PCRM in 1993 and officially took over the leadership of the party in 1994.
His political rise culminated in 2001, when the communists won the parliamentary majority, and Voronin became president of the Republic of Moldova. He ruled the country until 2009, during which the PCRM dominated the political scene and state institutions.
After the April 2009 protests and the change in the balance of power in Parliament, the communists gradually lost the influence they had had in previous years.
Electoral decline and return to Parliament
In the last decade, the PCRM went through a period of electoral decline. The weakest result in the history of the formation was recorded in the parliamentary elections of 2019, when the party failed to overcome the electoral threshold and obtained only 3.76% of the votes.
Two years later, the communists returned to Parliament in an electoral alliance with the socialists, obtaining ten mandates, including for Vladimir Voronin.
In the 2025 parliamentary elections, PCRM was part of the “Patriotic” Bloc, along with PSRM, “Viitorul Moldovei” and other formations. Following the elections, the party obtained eight deputy mandates.
The shadow of Ilan Şor over the Moldovan left
The change at the top of the PCRM takes place in a context where the influence of Ilan Şor continues to expand over several formations in the pro-Russian opposition.
After the party that bore his name was declared unconstitutional and outlawed, the politician definitively convicted in the “Bank fraud” case was associated with the appearance or support of several political projects, including “Renaissance”, “Chance”, “Victorie”, “Moldova Mare”, the Centrist Union of Moldova and other formations that gravitate around the “Pobeda” block.
In these conditions, the election of Diana Caraman to the leadership of the PCRM is viewed by observers not only as a generational change within the party, but also as a new episode in the reconfiguration of the political left in the Republic of Moldova.
