After consultations with all political parties represented in Parliament on Thursday, President Klaus Iohannis has nominated Ludovic Orban again for the PM seat, calling him to form a new Cabinet. This move is part of the logic to trigger early elections, the President explains.
“We have Liberal Government that has come up with a reforming agenda, which wanted to repair the mistakes of the Social Democrat governments. On the other hand, PSD wants to stop things,” said Iohanis, referring to the law on electing mayors in two rounds.
“The right solution then is to go back to polls, meaning early elections, which are my first option“, the head of state added.
According to Iohannis, during the consultations, some parties agreed with snap elections, others asked for more time to consult the party members. “Until then, we are taking a very concrete step- to nominate Ludovic Orban to form a new government”.
“To ensure a good governance there is no other solution but enabling Romanians to choose a representative Parliament (…) We saw yesterday once again that PSD had not understood a thing from the Romanians’ vote, they lost the EP elections”, Orban said.
President Klaus Iohannis is starting consultations with the parliamentary parties today, being expected to designate LudoviC Orban for the PM office, in the attempt to get to snap elections.
PNL is the first to enter talks at Cotroceni Presidential Palace today.
“I was and I am a supporter of early elections. I want to follow a logic that leads to early elections. If I see the parties don’t want that, then I will further insist for a reforming government to be voted, designed by and around PNL, I want to be very clear about that,” President Iohannis said in a press statement last night.
As for PSD, which secured a parliamentary majority next to UDMR and Pro Romania for the censure motion yesterday, thus leading to the fall of the Orban Cabinet, the interim secretary general Paul Stanescu stated that the party will decided “step by step” the strategy to follow after the consultation with President Iohannis.
PSD, backed by Pro Romania and ALDE, designated Remus Pricopie, the rector of the National School of Political and Administrative Studies (SNSPA) and former minister of Education, as their proposal for the PM office.
Asked what will happen if the head of state is ignoring the majority announced by Social Democrats and will still nominate Ludovic Orban as PM, Stanescu said: “Well, we are going to Cotroceni today, after lunch we’ll know exactly and we’ll decided the next steps to be taken”. Also questioned what are the odds for early elections, the PSD leader replied: “If we are starting again with <what if>, the chances are fifty-fifty”.
However, interim chairman Marius Ciolacu announced that PSD might notify the Constitutional Court if Ludovic Orban is nominated again for the PM seat.
USR is endorsing the early elections scenario, with chairman Dan Barna saying that, if early elections are not possible, they ask the future premier to promote the GEO on electing mayors in two rounds. Barna said they propose Dacian Ciolos as PM and expressed availability to join ruling.
In his turn, UDMR leader Kelemen Hunor stated that Ludovic Orban is again nominated as PM, that means that President Iohannis wants early elections. Despite the fact they had voted against the Orban gov’t in Parliament yesterday, Kelemen Hunor mentioned that his party is not endorsing a majority around PSD, neither a PM supported by PSD.
ALDE chairman Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu is against early elections, arguing they ‘would gave a negative impact on the political and economic level’, while the time saved until elections on time is insignificant.