CHISINAU -- Members of Moldova's Communist Party have announced that they will boycott all upcoming sessions of parliament, RFE/RL's Moldovan Service reports.
In an official statement, the Communist Party said the boycott was to protest the ruling Alliance for European Integration taking an "unconstitutional" action by holding a referendum on whether to amend or perhaps even replace the current constitution.
The Communists, who ruled Moldova for eight years until 2009, are themselves calling for a national referendum to be held to gauge the public's trust in the current government.
Members of the ruling coalition are seeking to change the constitution so that the president would be elected directly by voters and not by the parliament, which failed twice last year to elect a new president.
A further such failure would necessitate holding new parliamentary elections, which the ruling coalition wants to avoid.