February 08, 2020

Romania - another impeachment in less then a half-year

topic:	Good Governance
located:	Romania
editor:	Katarina Panić

Romanian parliament toppled the government this week again. This time the opposition Social Democratic Party, PSD initiated the impeachment procedure against Prime Minister Ludovik Orban and his centre-right National Liberal Party, PNL.

Back to October, previous government led by social-democrat Viorica Dancila was ousted in a motion of no confidence tabled by the then liberal opposition. In the year of upcoming both local and general elections, the country is far away from political stability.

After the collapse of the government, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis will now have to designate a new premier who will have to gain the support of parliament. If two prime ministerial nominees fail to get parliamentary approval within a 60-day, Iohannis can call snap elections. That would require the dissolution of parliament. It would be the first time Romania goes through it three decades after the fall of communism.

Last November Iohannis won some 65 per cent at the presidential election. According to the recent polls, his liberals are now at 47 per cent, twice as much as legislative elections in 2016. It is understandable why they campaign for early elections as a way to solve the current crisis.

On the other hand, social-democrats have halved their support to some 20 per cent. They unseat the government to prevent a new electoral law ahead of local elections in June. They opposed both the new law adoption without the public debate and mayors being elected in two rounds instead of current the simple majority system.

Namely, there is a two-round system in the presidential election in Romania. The PSD is the major leftists in the country, while more centre-right parties come together in support of a single candidate in the second round. As a result, PSD candidates have lost every presidential election to centre-right candidates run-off since 2000. They think the run-offs to choose mayors could decimate their hold on municipal power and they could end up losing seats in town halls and local county councils across the country. According to estimations, they could lose as much as half of some 1,700 mayors they currently have.

It seems the country heads for another year of domestic political turbulence, uncertainty and potential blockades. There are expectations from the European Union too: more transparent and efficient judiciary, conflicts of interest prevention and fight against the high-level corruption, in particular within the local authorities.

Photo: Tim Adams/Flickr