CHISINAU, June 24, 23:50 /ITAR-TASS/. Moldova’s opposition Communist Party has demanded from the country’s parliament that President Nicolae Timofti step down, Vladimir Voronin, the former president and the Communist leader, said at a news conference on Tuesday.

The demand stems from Timofti’s words in support of Moldova’s joining NATO.

“The head of state imposes on Moldova the necessity to join the NATO military bloc in spite of the fact that the country's neutrality status is enshrined in the constitution,” Voronin said. “We have submitted the demand for the president’s resignation to the parliament.”

The Communist leader said that in one of the interviews the president said that “if his decision were determining, he would back Moldova’s accession to NATO.” According to the president, it would step up the country’s security.

According to opinion polls, only 14% of Moldovans believe that accession to NATO will be the best option for boosting security, while 52% hope that the status of neutrality is better and 12% favour the country’s joining the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) of former Soviet republics.

Regardless the opinion polls, Moldova’s government is building co-operation with NATO on the basis of an individual road map of partnership that envisages Moldovan servicemen’s participation in international peacekeeping operations.