Romania held the parliamentary elections on Sunday, December 11, with the Social Democratic Party (PSD) emerging as the big winner.

Next, once the Central Electoral Bureau (BEC) announces the final results, the country will get a new Prime Minister and thus a new Government. But how long will this process take?

According to the law, the President has to nominate a candidate for the Prime Minister position after consultations with the parties that are represented in the Parliament. Next, the candidate has to choose his team and get the Parliament’s vote.

Thus, if the candidate nominated by President Klaus Iohannis chooses a team that receives the Parliament’s vote, the new Government could be sworn in by the end of the year, reports local Digi24.

The calendar in this case is this one:
December 15-16 – BEC announces the final results;
December 19 – the new MPs take the oath;
December 20-21 – the President has consultations with the political parties for the new Prime Minister;
December 21-22, the President nominates the new Prime Minister;
December 23-29 – the new Prime Minister chooses his team, the Parliament votes it, December 30 – the new Government is sworn in.

However, if the process of choosing the new ministers will take longer, the new Government could start its mandate in early-January.

Being the big winner of the parliamentary elections, PSD will be the political party that will form the new Government. PSD leader Liviu Dragnea is the one expected to be nominated for Prime Minister.

President Klaus Iohannis said before that he would not accept for Prime Minister a person with legal problems. Thus, Dragnea wouldn’t be on Iohannis’ list for Prime Minister, as he was sentenced to two years probation in a case related to the electoral fraud at the 2012 referendum organized to dismiss former President Traian Basescu.

However, Iohannis may not have a choice, given that PSD and their allies, the Liberal Democratic Alliance (ALDE), led by former PM Calin Popescu Tariceanu, got some 52% of the votes in Sunday’s elections, and will likely have a comfortable majority in the Parliament.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com