established the minority governing coalition – the Political Alliance for a European Moldova. Since 2009, the Democratic Party has been a full member of the Socialist International. From 2010 until 2015, the PDM was an observer member of the Party of European Socialists and in June 2015, the PDM became an associate member of the Party of European Socialists. On 14 January 2016, Pavel Filip, delegated by the PDM and backed by the new parliamentary majority became the new candidate for prime minister position. The government headed by Filip was voted and appointed, with the votes of 57 members of parliament: 20 PDM's MPs, 13 LP's MPs, 14 former Communist Party's MPs, 8 MPs and 2 former MPs of the Liberal Democratic Party. The VIIIth Congress was called after the decisions adopted at the meeting of the PDM's Political Council held on 10 December 2016 when the party leader, Mr. Marian Lupu, announced his resignation from the PDM's chairman position. The main task of the VIIIth Congress was the election of new leadership, adoption of new changes in the party's statute and streamlining new modernization objectives of the party. Vlad Plahotniuc was elected for the position of the PDM chairman and he gained unanimous supportive votes of delegates at the congress. Plahotniuc said that he would focus on the modernization of the political party, to become a party that promotes citizens' interests rather than geopolitical ones. The congress delegates elected Filip as first deputy chairman of the PDM, voted the list of the new National Political Council and adopted the new edition of the Party Statute. According to the organizers, about 1.000 delegates from all the districts of the country and guests from abroad participated in the congress. On 10 March 2017, the 14 former Communist MPs who formed the Social Democratic Platform for Moldova (SDPM) joined the parliamentary faction of the PDM. Democratic faction leader, Marian Lupu said at the press briefing that the decision of the 14 MPs “is a step that will lead to the strengthening of the parliamentary majority”, thus, the PDM became largest political group in the Parliament. In the 2019 parliamentary election, the PDM received 23.6% of the vote, gaining 30 seats in parliament, making it the second largest party in Moldova. The party moved into opposition to the new Sandu Cabinet (formed by Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova (PSRM), Party