Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis on Wednesday named interim Finance Minister Florin Citu as prime minister-designate to form a transitional government until parliamentary elections later this year.
Citu must put together a cabinet within 10 days and will then need to gain parliament’s vote of confidence. It is unlikely he will get enough votes, which could take Romania one step closer to snap elections.
„I want to quickly unlock this political deadlock… my nominee for prime minister is the current Finance Minister Florin Citu. I do hope he’ll soon put together a cabinet lineup, governing program and present it to Parliament,” Iohannis said.
Iohannis, who is an ally of the Liberals, is pushing for early elections months ahead of time to capitalize on the Liberals’ good showing in polls.
If parliament reject two successive governments within 60 days, the president can dissolve parliament, triggering a snap poll.
But the Social Democrats whose popularity has dived after three years in office, want the elections held in fall as scheduled.
Parliament ousted the Social Democrat government in October. A Liberal minority government headed by Ludovic Orban took office in November but was ousted in a vote of no-confidence this month.
Iohannis renominated Orban, but the Constitutional Court ruled that he should not have been put forward as he was unable to command a parliamentary majority.
