Vladimir Voronin (born Vladimir Bujeniță, 25 May 1941) is a Moldovan politician. He was the third president of Moldova from 2001 until 2009 and has been the First Secretary of the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova (PCRM) since 1994. He was Europe's first democratically elected communist party head of state after the dissolution of the Eastern Bloc. Vladimir Voronin, born as Vladimir Bujeniță, grew up in the village of Corjova, part of the Romanian-administered Transnistria Governorate. Despite being a lifelong communist, Voronin's grandfather was an anticommunist fighter in Romania. He lost his mother in 2005, and his biological father died during World War II. Raised by his step-father, an ethnic Russian and communist activist, Voronin pursued an education and held various positions within the Moldavian SSR administration. Voronin studied at different institutions, including the Cooperation Tekhnikum, the All-Union Institute for Food Industry, the Academy of Social Sciences of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Soviet Union. He began his career as the head of a bakery and later held positions in the state administration, including vice-director of a bread factory and various executive committees. In 1993, Voronin played a crucial role in reviving the banned Communist Party, becoming the co-president of the Organizational Committee for the creation of the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova (PCRM). He was elected as the President of the PCRM in 1994 and ran for the presidency of Moldova in 1996. He served as a Member of Parliament, holding leadership positions within the PCRM's parliamentary faction. Although he was nominated for the position of Prime Minister in 1999, Voronin lacked sufficient support in parliament. He identified as a left-wing politician and held conservative views on social issues, opposing immigration, the construction of mosques, and LGBT rights. Some of his statements, including controversial remarks towards an African-born activist, were criticized. Despite his grandfather's emigration to Romania, Voronin viewed Moldovans and Romanians as distinct ethnic groups, and some of his declarations were considered anti-Romanian.

Vladimir Voronin - Wikipedia