Romanian Court Rejects President’s Second Nomination of Orban

Romania's Constitutional Court on Monday ruled against the President Klaus Iohannis' second nomination of acting prime minister Ludovic Orban as PM-designate.

The ruling came as parliament prepared for a vote, which has now been suspended, in which legislators should have decided whether the centre-right politician would take office.

The court ruled that the constitution does not allow the President to nominate the same PM-designate as any person previously ousted in a no-confidence vote. Instead, he must propose someone who can get enough support in parliament to assume office.

"The court established … that the designation of a candidate for the prime ministerial position should have the goal of assuring the constitution of a parliamentary majority in order to form a new government," the ruling read.

The acting president of the Senate, Titus Corlatean, who took part in the process, representing the opposition Social Democratic Party, had argued that the President's goal was to dissolve parliament "and not to find a political solution within the current parliamentary configuration".

Ludovic Orban's National Liberal Party minority government was toppled on 5 February, just three months after assuming power, in a no-confidence vote initiated by the same centre-left opposition that appealed Iohannis' decision to nominate Orban a second time.

After the successful no-confidence vote, Iohannis had to propose a new prime minister to parliament. He picked Orban again in order to get him rejected twice by MPs - a constitutional requirement allowing him to dissolve parliament and trigger early elections.

Iohannis will have now to come up with a different strategy and a different pick for the position of prime minister, after holding...

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