The MPs of the Liberal Party, the Liberal-Democratic Party and the Party of Communists announced that they will not take part in the ceremony to invest President Igor Dodon today, December 23. Unaffiliated MPs Iurie Leanca and Eugen Carpov will also not attend the ceremony, IPN reports.

Liberal leader Mihai Ghimpu said in Parliament that Moldova needs a President who will defend the interests of the country, not of other states. “If you chose your President, you should go and ‘enthrone’ this yourselves,” he stated.

Head of the Communist parliamentary group Inna Supac said the Communist MPs consider Igor Dodon is an illegitimate President and will not take part in the investiture.

Head of the Liberal-Democratic group Tudor Deliu noted that Igor Dodon’s recent statements about the apologies that Moldova should offer to Transnistria for the Nistru war of 1192 and others cannot be accepted as these go beyond a political discourse. He accused Igor Dodon of making manipulating and denigrating statements, including in the election campaign.

On a social networking site, Iurie Leanca wrote that the statements made by President-elect Igor Dodon recently clearly show that this does not have the capacity to rise to the height of the obtained office. Even if he won the presidential elections, Igor Dodon does not want to understand that a Head of State must be a model and have an exemplary behavior so as to unite the people, not divide them. The MPs of the European People’s Party of Moldova will thus boycott the investiture.

The ceremony to invest the President will start at 1pm. At 12:45pm, Igor Dodon will give a speech in front of the Palace of the Republic and will then take part in the joint solemn meeting of Parliament and the Constitutional Court, where he will swear a constitutional oath.