Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said that the appointment of a new prime minister will take place after the approval of the chairmen of both houses of parliament.
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Iohannis is holding consultations with parliamentary parties on Sunday to nominate a candidate for the post of prime minister.
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“I have invited parliamentary parties for consultations on the formation of a government. The pro-European coalition, consisting of PSD, PNL, UDMR and representatives of minorities, reported that negotiations for the creation of a sustainable government coalition are close to completion. I am optimistic: immediately after voting for the presidents of both houses of parliament I will be able to present a candidate for the post of prime minister,” he said at a briefing broadcast on social networks.
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Parliamentary elections in Romania took place on December 1. The Social Democratic Party (PSD), the National Liberal Party (PNL), the Union for the Salvation of Romania (USR), the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) and representatives of national minorities signed a resolution on December 4 in which they commit to creating a coalition in parliament. PSD leader Prime Minister Marcel Ciolaku said on Thursday that his party had withdrawn from the negotiations, but on Friday he invited the leaders of the PNL, UDMR and a group of deputies representing national minorities to consultations, the USR party, whose leader Elena Lasconi was running for president, was excluded from the negotiations.
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To create a ruling coalition in the Romanian parliament, a minimum of 234 votes is needed. The PSD, PNL, UDMR and the National Minority Group have 244 mandates.
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In Romania, presidential elections were held on November 24. According to the results of the first round, independent candidate Calin Georgescu took first place with 22.94% of the votes. Lasconi, who supports partnerships with NATO and the US, has 19.18% of the votes. On December 6, the Constitutional Court of Romania decided to annul the first round of elections after reconsidering complaints from public organizations, presidential candidates and government agencies. The requests cited documents declassified by the country’s Supreme Security Council, according to which the election campaign took place with violations.
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Previously, Iohannis stated that a new date for the presidential elections would have to be set by the new government. Parliamentary elections in Romania took place on December 1.
