The parliamentary elections scheduled for December 6 must take place because Romania needs "a Parliament with full powers," president Klaus Iohannis said on October 7.

Romania recorded nearly 3,000 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, a new daily record.

"Democracy does not work without elections," president Iohannis stressed. He argued that there were no epidemiological incidents at the local elections.

However, it is clear that if the number of cases increases, the electoral campaign will take place under more special conditions than that for the local elections, Iohannis admitted.

But the elections must take place, he insisted. "We cannot continue without a full-fledged Parliament," Iohannis said.

The opposition Social Democratic Party (PSD) recently suggested it could support a draft bill to postpone the general elections for March 2021 if the epidemic worsened.

Romania recorded 2,958 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, the highest daily count since the start of the pandemic. A total of 8,303 coronavirus patients were admitted to hospitals in the country, 612 of them to intensive care units.

President Iohannis explained that there are over 1,000 ATI beds reserved for COVID-19 patients, and some 2,300 in total, including those currently used for other patients. 

(Photo: Presidency.ro)

andrei@romania-insider.com