Presidential candidate Barna says successful no-confidence vote paves way for early election

Presidential candidate of the Save Romanian Union (USR) PLUS Alliance Dan Barna told a news conference in Galati on Friday that a successful no-confidence vote against the Dancila government will open a "real" possibility for early election. He added that the Dancila government lost its legitimacy and that it was natural to be ousted by a no-confidence vote. Barna said that in the beginning of next week he will discuss with the Opposition parties the number of signatures and when to submit the censure motion. "From my point of view, things are very clear. There is no legitimacy of the current government. We will support a no-confidence vote. On Monday, or Tuesday, I will have a discussion with the Opposition parties to see what number of signatures we can count on, to see the opportunity of the moment for a censure motion. This government must leave because it no longer has legitimacy, on the one hand; on the other hand, the parliamentary majority that propelled it no longer exists," said Barna. He added that a successful no-confidence vote will pave the way for an early election. He also explained the mechanism that will underlie triggering the early election. "In the event that the no-confidence vote is successful, the real possibility for an early election opens along the following mechanism: any prime minister that is not from the Social Democratic Party (PSD) can be suggested, because I am convinced that President Iohannis will hopefully no longer give a second chance to PSD; Parliament will be able to reject the suggestion, the sequence is repeated and we get into the logic of an early election. If we enter a political agreement, which is possible, among the other parties, without PSD, when two prime ministerial proposals are rejected, we can enter very natural, very normal early election logic, through which to settle a political crisis that Romania risks slipping into. The idea of building a government of national unity with all the other forces, except PSD, that is precisely those who were shoulder to shoulder with Liviu Dragnea and PSD until a few days ago, is a losing proposition in Romania because in actuality it would be a government that could not do any of the major reforms that we fundamentally need. We are consistent. We support parliamentarily any government structure that will move Romania toward early elections," Barna said. Asked if an early election can be triggered before this autumn's presidential election, given that six months before such a poll an early election is not possible, Barna replied: "An early election before the presidential election is very unlikely. Such possibility does not exist, but after the presidential election there is no impediment to holding an early election." The USR PLUS Alliance candidate for Romania's presidency Dan Barna was in Galati on Friday as part of a caravan to collect 200,000 signatures to back up his bid. On Saturday, the caravan travels to Corod, Matca and Tecuci. AGERPRES (RO - author: Dan Paic, editor: Antonia Nita; EN - author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Adina Panaitescu)

Continue reading on: