BUCHAREST — Three centre-right parties that made up Romania’s outgoing ruling coalition have put forward European Parliament member Siegfried Muresan as their pick for prime minister, though whether they can secure the votes needed to confirm him remains an open question.
The political turmoil began when the leftist Social Democrats — Romania’s largest political party — walked away from the coalition and joined hands with far-right opposition lawmakers to bring down Liberal Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan in early May.
The prolonged standoff raises the possibility of a snap election in Romania, where the hard-right Alliance for Uniting Romanians is currently ahead in opinion polls by double digits. That party opposes a European Union rearmament initiative and has been critical of providing aid to Ukraine.
The Social Democrats have nominated their own leader, Sorin Grindeanu, for the prime minister post and have made clear they will not support any government that does not include them. On the other side, the Liberals — who form the centre-right bloc alongside the Save Romania Union and the ethnic Hungarian UDMR party — have ruled out entering another coalition with the leftists.
Leaders from all four parties in the outgoing coalition were set to sit down with centrist President Nicusor Dan on Friday evening to discuss a possible path forward for a minority government.
The Alliance for Uniting Romanians, which holds the second-largest share of seats in parliament, recently voted against legislation that would have authorized the shooting down of Russian drones crossing into Romanian airspace near the Ukrainian border. The party has also been a consistent critic of the European Union.
Earlier this week, a Liberal politician designated by President Dan as prime minister — without prior consultation with the Liberal Party — was unable to win a parliamentary confidence vote.
Under Romanian law, the president has one remaining nomination he can make. If two prime ministerial candidates fail to win parliamentary approval within 60 days of a government collapse, the president is permitted to dissolve parliament and call an early election.
The political gridlock is also putting pressure on Romania’s broader economic goals, including efforts to reduce what is currently the largest budget deficit among EU member states, secure access to EU funding, and improve its sovereign credit rating, which sits at the lowest level of investment grade.
Romania’s next regularly scheduled parliamentary election is not due until 2028.
