Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said on May 27 that the main opposition party, the National Liberal Party (PNL), won a landslide victory in the elections for the European Parliament and that, along with the alliance formed by Save Romania Union (USR) and PLUS parties, the liberals “can lay the basis for collaboration as an alternative to the failed Government of the Social Democratic Party (PSD)”.

Furthermore, the Romanians’ vote in favor of the referendum on justice is a harsh lesson given to populism, demagogy and anti-European and anti-justice speech, Iohannis added.

President Iohannis urged the government of prime minister Viorica Dancila to resign on Sunday night after the first exit polls indicated that PSD scored well below its expectations and the threshold for the validation of the referendum was met.

“This is a huge fall in PSD’s score since the parliamentary elections in 2016 until now, showing how Romanians feel about this failed PSD government. […]The government must leave,” Iohannis said then.

PNL leader Ludovic Orban also asked PM Dancila to resign and invited the other major opposition parties to join forces into a new parliamentary majority. “This ruling coalition is no longer legitimate [by voters],” Orban said after the speech of president Iohannis.

Dan Barna, head of Save Romania Union, the third largest political force as part of an alliance with PLUS party, also urged PM Dancila to resign.

editor@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Presidency.ro)