The Alliance for Romanians’ Union (AUR), a radical party that holds just over 9% of the seats in Romania’s Parliament, has started the procedure to suspend president Klaus Iohannis.

“We have started collecting signatures from MPs. Representatives from several parties promised that they would sign (the initiative – e.n.) and we will appeal to the hundreds of thousands of Romanians who contact us and ask us to take down Iohannis,” said AUR co-president George Simion.

The other AUR co-president, Claudiu Tarziu, added: “The head of state has often violated the Constitution and made political partisanship. He tried to govern Romania through intermediaries, according to his own vision.”

AUR may receive an unexpected support from former Liberal leader Ludovic Orban, once a close collaborator of president Iohannis. He accused the president of ignoring his obligations to the people and acting against Romania’s interests, according to News.ro.

In September, Orban lost the party’s helm after a round of internal elections in which president Iohannis openly supported prime minister Florin Citu. AUR also hopes to get support from the reformist party USR, which also supported the no-confidence motion against PM Florin Citu.

However, USR’s leaders said on Monday that suspending the president is not a solution and that it would only deepen Romania’s political crisis. Romania is currently run by a government without full powers after Liberal PM Florin Citu was dismissed by a no-confidence motion in early October.

Instead of pushing for a new majority in the Parliament, president Iohannis has supported the scenario of a Liberal government with minority support in the Parliament.

To the start of the president’s, AUR needs 156 signatures from MPs, representing a third of the total number of deputies and senators. If this condition is met, the president’s suspension will be put up to vote. A simple majority of 234 votes is needed for the Parliament to approve the suspension. If the Parliament votes for the suspension, the president is officially suspended, and the Senate’s president takes over his duties.

A national referendum is then organized where people vote if they agree to the suspension or not. So far, two such referendums were organized in Romania after 1990, both targeting former president Traian Basescu, who survived both of them.

(Photo: Ilona Andrei/ Inquam Photos)

andrei@romania-insider.com