diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 6ab2c3565a2eab6cb5051c489fc8677822dba87f..1d6bb49c5289746c2712f5f800c98305bc15d58a 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -47,10 +47,6 @@ Python 3.6 POCL MPI:
   - export PYOPENCL_TEST=portable
   - export EXTRA_INSTALL="numpy mako mpi4py pymetis"
   - export PYTEST_ADDOPTS="-k mpi"
-
-  # https://mpi4py.readthedocs.io/en/stable/mpi4py.run.html
-  - export PY_EXTRA_FLAGS="-m mpi4py.run"
-
   - curl -L -O -k https://gitlab.tiker.net/inducer/ci-support/raw/master/build-and-test-py-project.sh
   - ". ./build-and-test-py-project.sh"
   tags:
diff --git a/test/test_mpi_communication.py b/test/test_mpi_communication.py
index 886099645754f2907afcbb128c36777b98248df5..7ed5233d2ab437eefcb5a87aa69f4d3a18da951a 100644
--- a/test/test_mpi_communication.py
+++ b/test/test_mpi_communication.py
@@ -276,7 +276,8 @@ def test_simple_mpi(num_ranks):
         "mpiexec", "-np", str(num_ranks),
         "-x", "RUN_WITHIN_MPI=1",
         "-x", "TEST_SIMPLE_MPI_COMMUNICATION=1",
-        sys.executable, __file__])
+        # https://mpi4py.readthedocs.io/en/stable/mpi4py.run.html
+        sys.executable, "-m", "mpi4py.run", __file__])
 
 # }}}