Romanian parliament to vote on third PM pick amid political deadlock

The Romanian parliament was due on Wednesday to vote on a third nominee for prime minister, although analysts said chances of him being confirmed appear slim, bringing closer the prospects of snap parliamentary elections.

The four-party, pro-European coalition government collapsed in May when the governing Social Democrats, together with the opposition far right, ousted liberal Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan.

Since then, pro-European Union President Nicusor Dan has nominated two candidates for the post of prime minister.

But both have failed, leading Dan to choose liberal European Parliament member Siegfried Muresan.

Muresan, 45, backed by three parties from the former coalition, has promised a pro-EU cabinet with "an ambitious reform agenda".

But he can count on only 170 of the 233 votes needed to be approved as prime minister.

Analysts say Muresan's chances are slim as the centre-left Social Democratic Party (PSD), the largest party in the eastern European country, has refused to back him, demanding the premiership for itself.

The PSD, which holds 129 seats in parliament, quit the ruling coalition over austerity measures taken by Bolojan.

It has accused Muresan, a vice-president of the right-wing European People's Party in the European Parliament, of being an arrogant, "second-hand Bolojan".

The president, a centrist who has ruled out a government including the far right, nominated Muresan after one previous prime-minister-designate withdrew and another failed to secure parliamentary backing for his cabinet.

Reacting to the lengthening political stalemate, Dan accused the political parties of showing "more concern for electoral matters and far less concern for the national interest".

If Muresan fails, legal conditions for snap elections would be met.

But the president has said a new ballot would only prolong the crisis.

The rising far right -- which comprises roughly a third of parliament -- has threatened to impeach Dan if he does not call early elections once the conditions are met.

Romania -- a member of the EU and NATO that borders Ukraine -- has not held snap elections since the fall of Communism in 1989.

The main far-right party, the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), is leading in two recent polls, one at almost 40 percent, the other at 36 percent.

Political analyst Cristian Pirvulescu told AFP he expected Dan to end up choosing another candidate for prime minister -- possibly a technocrat -- before resorting to snap elections which, he predicted, would lead to another fragmented parliament but with an emboldened far right.

"Early elections mean that, from the moment they are called, it would take four months before a new government could be formed," Pirvulescu told AFP. 

"Due to political instability, Romania finds itself in a very complicated economic situation. Four months is already a very long time."

The country of 19 million has been struggling for months with the highest public deficit and inflation in the European Union.

In August, credit rating agencies said Romania's outlook remains negative because the political crisis brought a risk that deficit-cutting reforms would lose momentum.

Romania has faced heightened political uncertainty since December 2024, when the presidential election was annulled over allegations of Russia interfering on behalf of far-right candidate Calin Georgescu.

Dan won a rerun of the presidential vote in May 2025, beating AUR leader George Simion.