Secretary General of the President's Apparatus Ion Paduraru, who was nominated for the post of Prime Minister by the head of state on Thursday evening, withdrew his candidacy today following the existence of a parliamentary majority that fielded another candidate. The President Nicolae Timofti has repealed the decree by which he designated Ion Paduraru for premiership.

“I do not see any possibility to start parliamentary consultations as there is a definite majority. I don’t think it would be for the country’s benefit for me to confront the parliamentary majority ", said Ion Paduraru in a briefing.

According to him, the new candidacy proposed by the parliamentary majority,   the Democratic Party’s deputy chairman Pavel Filip, is a compromise candidate and the President will act in accordance with the constitutional provisions.

As the candidacy of Vlad Plahotniuc was not accepted for premiership, Democrats were quick to gather signatures of 55 MPs for candidate Pavel Filip, acting Minister of Information Technology and Communications, and to present him for the office of premiership to the president.  Last night, on the way to residency in Condrita, chairman of PDM Marian Lupu and Pavel Filip returned as they found that Nicolae Timofti designated Ion Paduraru for the office of premiership. Today, Democrats insist that the president abrogates his decree because they doubt Ion Paduraru’s integrity.