Romanian president Klaus Iohannis has made clear that he intends to give centre-right parties a chance to form a new government, despite Sunday's elections being won by the centre-left Social Democrats (PSD), whom he regards as dangerous for the country.
With nearly all votes counted, the populist PSD had 30 per cent, ahead of the ruling National Liberal party (PNL) on 25 per cent and the progressive USR-Plus group on 15 per cent. The far-right AUR alliance was a surprising fourth with 8 per cent and the UDMR of the country's Hungarian minority had 7 per cent.
Analysts said the PSD benefited from Romanians' fatigue and frustration over the coronavirus crisis, which dominated PNL leader Ludovic Orban's year in office as prime minister, and from the strength of its core support in the provinces as election turnout slipped to just 33 per cent. Mr Orban resigned on Monday evening.
Mr Iohannis is a fierce critic of the PSD, which was ousted from government in a no-confidence vote in October 2019 following a three-year bid to weaken Romania's anti-corruption laws and increase political control over its courts, which sparked mass protests and drew condemnation from the European Union.
‘Harshest democratic slap’
In an address to the nation on Monday evening, Mr Iohannis compared the latest election results with the 2016 ballot, and noted the significant gains made by centre-right parties and a 15 per cent decrease in support for the PSD.
“It is therefore clear, if we add up these results, that the centre-right parties together obtained more than 50 per cent of validly cast votes. And I can tell you with all sincerity that this was my goal,” he said.
"A centre-right coalition, which is already rapidly crystallising, will be able to propose a coalition government. In just a few days, I will convene consultations with parties that will be in the new parliament . . . to find the best solution for Romania, " he added.
“The new government . . . will manage measures required by the pandemic, it will urgently present long-awaited and often delayed reform measures, it will manage the [coronavirus] vaccination campaign and, certainly, as soon as possible, present a draft budget for 2021.”
The PNL and USR-Plus – a relatively new group popular in major cities and with younger Romanians – appear willing to form an alliance, and are expected to hold coalition talks with the ethnic Hungarian UDMR.
They have ruled out co-operation with AUR, which tapped nationalist and Eurosceptic sentiment, peddled conspiracy theories about Covid-19 and opposed mask wearing and lockdown measures.
The PSD seems bereft of possible coalition partners, but party leader Marcel Ciolacu called his party's victory "the harshest democratic slap" for president Iohannis and a rejection of a PNL-led government that had "failed both in the management of the pandemic and in economic terms."
