The three far-right nationalist parties in Romania's Parliament filed a request, drafted by the Party of Young People (POT), to initiate the procedures for the suspension from the post of president Klaus Iohannis.

Six MPs more than required (one-third of the total number of lawmakers) signed the document, namely all the 161 MPs of POT, the Alliance for Union of Romanians (AUR), and SOS Romania, Economica.net reported.

However, the support of 63 more MPs is needed for the request to be endorsed by the joint chambers of the Parliament. Save Romania Union (USR), which is not part of the ruling coalition but has not signed the far-right opposition's request, has 59 MPs.

According to the Constitution, in the event of committing serious acts that violate the provisions of the Constitution, the president of Romania may be suspended from office in a joint meeting of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, by majority vote.

More precisely, to suspend the president, 233 votes are needed, and the proposal can be initiated by at least one-third of the number of deputies and senators, respectively 155 parliamentarians.

The opposition's MPs argue in their request that Iohannis's term expired and he no longer plays his role of defending the Constitution. The opposition's representative speaks, on a more general political note, of a coup d'etat.

"Klaus Iohannis's mandate ended by law on December 21, 2024. He illegally occupies the supreme office in the Romanian state as a result of a coup d'état he led, which was carried out on December 6, 2024, and as a result of an abusive decision by the Constitutional Court," the AUR press release states.

iulian@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Presidency.ro)