Prime Minister Vlad Filat's verbal ordinance to penalize the local elected officials who will hinder the September 5 constitutional referendum disturbed the PCRM. The Communist Opposition considers this is pressure exerted on the representatives of the local public administration, with the Premier behaving like a dictator or villain, Info-Prim Neo reports, quoting a statement from the PCRM. “The PCRM believes the Prime Minister's actions run counter to the principle of separation of powers, encroach upon the local autonomy, and infringe the rights and fundamental freedoms of the elected authorities. Only the political bandits armed with administrative resources resort to threats of repression as arguments in the struggle to promote civic positions and ideas,” it is said in the statement. The PCRM called on the voters and representatives of the local public administration not to yield to the threats made by Vlad Filat and other leaders of the ruling coalition. In the August 17 meeting of the Cabinet, the Premier requested the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Security and Information Service, the Ministry of the Interior and the Center for Combating Corruption and Economic Crime to monitor and investigate all the illegal actions taken by some of the state institutions with the aim of boycotting the September 5 constitutional referendum. He asked that they provide information about the way in which the law on the September 5 referendum is being implemented in every district and at every mayor’s office. Vlad Filat's ordinance comes after a number of district administration heads, mainly representatives of the PCRM, adopted decisions to boycott the plebiscite.