Prime Minister Ludovic Orban says Romania will hold parliamentary elections on Dec. 6.
Orban, who heads a minority Liberal government, made the announcement Thursday at the beginning of a weekly government meeting.
He said he wanted to inform Romanians ahead of the decision and his Cabinet would issue an executive decision to schedule the date.
„The government is obliged by the Constitution and the law on parliamentary elections to set the date of the elections. The mandate of this Parliament ends on December 21, and considering other legal provisions, December 6 is the only date when the elections can be organized,” Orban said.
The last parliamentary elections were held in Dec. 2016, where the Social Democrats came first and formed an alliance with a smaller party. The government headed by then-Premier Viorica Dancila was dismissed in a no-confidence vote in Oct. 2019.
The Social Democrats, who theoretically have a parliamentary majority with their allies, brought a vote of no-confidence against the Liberals this week, but failed to muster a quorum and the attempt was abandoned.
Romania holds local elections on Sept. 27.
Opinion polls put Liberals in the lead, with the Social Democrats trailing a poor second.
