The leader of the MAN party, Ion Ceban, announced that he will not contend in the presidential elections of this autumn and that he will further serve his tenure as mayor general of Chisinau, IPN reports.

“I have said every time and I declare today that I’m not interested in running for President of the Republic of Moldova this autumn because the people entrusted their votes to me and I cannot disappoint them. I talked about this two years ago and have been saying the same thing ever since. Not for a second did I think otherwise. I promised in front of the people and I’m obliged to continue transforming Chisinau,” the mayor said at a press briefing.

Ion Ceban also noted that the MAN party is preparing for next year’s parliamentary elections so as to represent as well as possible the citizens of the Republic of Moldova, whether they are at home or abroad, and their interests.

The presidential election and the national constitutional referendum on joining the European Union will take place on October 20.