Four deputies of the People's Assembly – Dmitri Constantinov, Zahar Mitul, Ilia Uzun and Ivan Topal – were expelled from the Democratic Party (PDM) under a decision adopted by the party's National Council on Thursday, PDM said in a press release.

“We advanced the proposal to expel those who participated in the illegal referendum on February 2 because, despite the fact that we had had numerous meetings with them to explain the hazards of this referendum, they disregarded this and went against the party discipline”, stated Vlad Plahotniuc, the party's senior vice president.

PDM president Marian Lupu said that the decision had been consulted with the party's Political Bureau. He stressed that 2014 will be a difficult year and the party must consolidate its ranks. “The stakes are high and we must mobilize”.

The Democrats have decided to conduct a nationwide campaign to raise awareness of the benefits of European integration, in light of the prospective signing of the Association Agreement with the EU. The party's National Council also declared that PDM will “respond firmly to all the actions aimed dividing society and promoting separatism”.