Romania’s Social Democratic Party (PSD), which recently left the ruling coalition, has joined forces with the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) to prepare a vote of no confidence against Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan.
Ideological rivals that rarely cooperate have decided this time to act together.
These two parties are the largest in the Romanian parliament. The Social Democrats hold 122 seats across both chambers, while AUR holds 89. By comparison, the National Liberals, represented by Ilie Bolojan, have only 71 seats.
The Romanian bicameral parliament has 465 members in total, and mathematically, PSD and AUR alone do not secure a majority. However, there is a strong possibility that additional votes could be gathered, potentially leading to Bolojan’s removal.
These additional votes may come from SOS Romania, led by Diana Sosoaca, and the Party of Young People, which hold 40 and 31 seats respectively.
Still, Bolojan’s dismissal may only mark the beginning of a prolonged political crisis whose outcome is difficult to predict. After achieving the shared goal of removing him, the major parties’ strategies diverge again.
PSD aims to form a new government from within the existing coalition, but without the unpopular Bolojan. Meanwhile, AUR is pushing for early elections, in which it sees strong chances of leading a new governing coalition.
An additional destabilizing factor could be President Nicușor Dan, who has already stated that he will not support any government formula involving cooperation with sovereignty parties.
