CHISINAU, July 12 (Itar-Tass) — The Moldovan parliament on Thursday passed a bill on amendments to the country’s law on political parties which banned the use of attributes and symbols of totalitarian regimes.

Deputies from the ruling Alliance for European Integration coalition voted for the bill. The opposition Communist Party voted against while several deputies abstained from voting.

“This bill is aimed at removing the Communist Party from political life. You are twenty years late. We are already known in Moldova,” said Vladimir Voronin, Moldova’s ex-president and the Communist Party leader. The Communist deputies left the parliament session in protest.

The Communist Party ruled Moldova from 2001 to 2009.